Where Are the 400 Bureau De Change Terror Financiers, HURIWA Asks Malami

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), yesterday queried the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, over the alleged secrecy and mystery surrounding the 400 Bureau de Change operators arrested for terrorism financing about two years ago.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement also kicked against the release of 131 terrorists awaiting trial, saying the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari continued to display hypocrisy in Nigeria’s terror war.
Onwubiko stressed that until justice was done to the arrested Boko Haram, ISWAP and Ansaru, terrorists jail breaks and deadly attacks may continue, adding that insurgents would naturally feel emboldened.

HURIWA lamented that under the watch of the current government over a dozen brazen jail breaks occurred and over 3, 000 hardened criminals escaped including terrorists who are going about bombing churches and killing reverend fathers.
The group recalled that Malami recently disclosed that the federal government has prosecuted 1,500 terrorism cases and secured 397 convictions from May 2015 till date.

According to the statement, the AGF also confirmed the recent release of 30 Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) from the Keffi Correctional Centre as well as the release of 101 suspected terrorists from the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre “who have spent over 10 years in custody without trial before the Federal High Court in Lagos.”

Onwubiko however remarked that, “397 convictions of terrorists is not equal to 400 terror sponsors whose arrests were nationally announced by the AGF office and the Presidency in 2021. “Where are these Bureau de Change operators? Who are they? What courts were the so-called 397 convictions made? These mystery and secrecy are baffling and pointer to complicity by the federal government.

“Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu is being tried publicly but nobody knows the identity and the courts that tried the so-called terrorists?”
He added: “If we may ask, is this not covering evil people and evil deeds by this government? What a conspiracy! The government should disclose every detail of those convicted including the prisons they are for verification by all Nigerians or if for the purposes of concealing their places of detention due to fear that their colleagues at large may stage attacks to free them, let the government publicise their identities and photos.

“In the last eight years, over 7,000 prisoners have escaped during about 15 jailbreaks all over the country including sentenced Boko Haram terrorists. The most recent one being the attack on Kuje Custodial Centre on July 5, 2022 where scores of insurgents remanded and awaiting trial at the facility are still AWOL!
“But amid rising security challenges, the AGF found it thoughtful to release 131 terrorists awaiting trial. This is preposterous!

“HURIWA demands accountability from President Buhari and his Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola to tell Nigerians how they still sleep knowing fully well that thousands of convicted terrorists, armed robbers, kidnappers and murderers were left to escape from prisons. More shamefully is that fact that school girls in Yauri, Kebbi State were kidnapped by armed Fulani terrorists and are still being kept in the forest for 19 months.”