The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has said that the process of identifying and prosecuting terrorism financiers in Nigeria is ongoing, stressing that the matter involves legal complexities.
He said, “I think the process is on, I can speak for this government … and because it has to do with a lot of legal issues and because again, it has to do with international connections. Some of them have funds coming from outside, we cannot do anything from within.
The CDS, who made the revelation on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, said terrorism financiers often rely on local operatives who remit money into certain accounts.
“We know them. The local ones, what they do normally is to employ a few individuals, provide motorcycles for them and those ones are remitting funds daily into some accounts. So, it’s being tracked. They try to circulate these monies and that’s why it’s important for us to be able to track the funds,” Musa explained.
The CDS commended the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for its role in exposing financial links to terrorism.
“The NFIU has been doing so much, apart from the intelligence set up, the financial links are also being followed through and through and arrests have been made. I can assure you the Attorney-General of the Federation, the NSA (Nuhu Ribadu) are all working seriously to ensure that we address those issues,” he said.
Musa also disclosed that the Department of State Services (DSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and other security agencies are working to track politicians financing insecurity.
“You know criminals work together. They synergise their efforts together, both the bandits and terrorists, because one, a common goal, they want to make money, they want to make sure communities are suffering for whatever reason. And again, some part of politics, when there is peace, it shows the government is doing well and when there is no peace it shows the government is not doing well.
“You realise that last year, we had the least number of deaths, then, how come suddenly everything has spiked? Because politics has come in, elections are coming in. You cannot rule out the fact that some individuals are making sure there is no peace. The funny thing is that how do you want to kill the people you want to govern? What do you gain from it?”
Asked if political actors behind terrorism have been identified, Musa replied that “work is in progress.”
He further called for reforms in the justice system to fast-track terrorism cases.
“I can tell you that the DSS, the NIA, the NFIU and the DIA are all working assiduously to ensure… and again, it has to do with legal system. We have to review our legal system because some of the punishment and prosecution take too long. Maybe if we have a special court that will treat (terrorism) cases as quickly as they are. I think we also need to review the punishment for offences,” he said.
