FG lists Tukur Mamu, Kaduna-based publisher, among ’15 terrorism financiers’

The federal government has reportedly named Tukur Mamu, publisher of Desert Herald, as one of the suspects involved in terrorism financing.

Mamu was listed among 15 entities, including nine individuals and six Bureau De Change (BDC) operators and firms, according to Punch.

Punch cited a document from the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) titled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024”.

According to the document, the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18 where the named entities were recommended for sanctions following their involvement in terrorism financing.

The NFIU said Mamu “participated in the financing of terrorism by receiving and delivering ransom payments, over the sum of $200,000, in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack”.

Mamu is currently being tried by the federal government for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022.

After he was arrested in 2022, the government said it had found $300,000 in his possession.

The money was tagged as “terrorist funds”.

Mamu who is a media aide to Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric, has also been accused of exchanging voice notes relating to the Abuja-Kaduna train hostages with one Baba Adamu, a Boko Haram spokesperson.

The publisher has denied any allegiance to terrorists.

The NFIU said one of the terrorism financiers is “the suspected attacker of the St. Francis Catholic Church Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022 and the Kuje Correctional Center, Abuja on July 5, 2022″.

Another was described as a member of the terrorist group Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudam, associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, who “specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also an Improvised Explosive Device expert”.

The NFIU also listed “a senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene” and “a financial courier to ISWAP Okene”, a female allegedly responsible for the disbursement of funds to the widows and wives of the terrorist fighters of the group.

Individuals who were said to have “received a total of N57m from between 2014 and 2017” and “a total inflow of N61.4 bn and a total outflow of N51.7bn from his accounts” were also among the suspects.