What Zulum Said About Those Convicted For Sponsoring Boko Haram

Borno Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum has expressed happiness in the conviction case of those sponsoring Boko Haram.

Governor Zulum is particularly happy that a headway was being made in the conviction at long last.

He has therefore called for more prayers from Nigerians so that all those sponsoring the group would continue to be exposed.

The governor was mentioned by Daily Trust as hailing the conviction of the alleged six Boko Harm sponsors by the United Arab Emirates.

The report said the governor particularly added that for the first time in 11 years, there appeared to be a headway in tracking the alleged financiers, of the group which activities had left thousands of citizens killed.

such activities the report added had also left millions displaced and private property and public institutions worth 9 billion dollars destroyed in Borno and other parts of the northeast and Nigeria at large.

Zulum’s message was contained in a statement on Tuesday, by his spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau.

It was in reaction to Monday’s cover story of Daily Trust, titled: 6 Nigerians Convicted in UAE Over ‘Boko Haram Funding’, the report said.

The story detailed how an Abu Dhabi appeal court upheld the conviction of some Nigerians for allegedly supplying almost N300m to fund Boko Haram.

The convicts, according to the court, allegedly used bureau de change operations to send $782,000 to Boko Haram in 17 separate transfers from Dubai to Nigeria between 2015 and 2016.

Governor Zulum however noted that he acknowledges and respects the rights of families of those convicted who, according to the cover story, have raised questions on the UAE court judgment, maintaining that the convicts were innocent of the charges.

Zulum urged the “Federal Government to consider setting up a multi-stakeholders’ team with trusted representatives from the Federal Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad, and the ECOWAS Intergovernmental Action Group on Terrorism Financing in West Africa, GIABA, to assiduously work with the UAE Government to look into the issues raised by families crying foul play, and more importantly, to follow-up on the findings by the UAE with the hope of using the intelligence, if authenticated, to expand search on other Boko Haram sponsors that may be helping in similar ways.” he said.

The Governor, who in February, and October this year, declared two day of state-wide fasting and prayers against Boko Haram and their sponsors, urged the people of Borno to sustain prayers for God to expose all sponsors of Boko Haram and anyone who knowingly benefits from the crisis at the expense of peace in the State.

READ ALSO: Delta Govt Unravels Mystery Death That Has Claimed 30 Youths

The 22nd report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team had identified charitable donations, extortion, smuggling and ransom remittances from kidnapping as some of the ways Boko Haram raises funds.