Prominent businessmen and organisations will soon be prosecuted for offences relating to funding of terrorism in Nigeria, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami has disclosed.
Malami disclosed this on Friday when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
READ ALSO: Two Lions Test Positive For COVID-19
He said investigations have indicated that high-profile individuals have been implicated in various cases of terrorism financing across the country.
“As you will actually know, sometimes back there were certain convictions of Nigerians allegedly involved in terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“That gave rise to a wider and far-reaching investigations in Nigeria.
“I ‘m happy to report that arising from the wider investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable.
“I mean some reasonable grounds for suspicion of terrorism financing have been established, or perhaps has been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain higher profile individuals and businessmen across the country.
“I’m happy to report that investigation has been ongoing for long and it has reached an advanced stage.
“Arising from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high-profile institutions and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution,” the AGF said.
READ ALSO: Pfizer-BioNTech Requests Full FDA Approval For COVID-19 Vaccine
He said the Government is initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism.
“The message is clear: nobody is going to be spared, no stone will be left unturned. We shall certainly and aggressively pursue those people that are involved in terrorist financing as far as the Nigerian state is concerned,” he declared.
The AGF, however, did not give any hint on names nor numbers of those that might be involved.
“As to the number, investigation is ongoing and it has to be conclusive before one can arrive at a certain number, but one thing I can tell you is that it’s a large number and they are being profiled for prosecution.
© ControlTV 2021.
