President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, has said his master will not make a public show of Boko Haram financiers and other sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria.
The Presidential media aide disclosed that Buhari’s regime does not have the motive of shaming the terrorists’ sponsors but will make them face charges.
Adesina revealed this during Channels TV programme on Monday.
“Naming and shaming will not be the motive. Bringing malefactors to justice will be it. Nigeria is not interested in naming and shaming anybody. Rather, it wants to bring them to justice,” Adesina said.
In May, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, announced that high-profile Nigerians were financing terrorism in the country.
“In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting, and it’s indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true,” Malami had said.
Contrary to many Nigerians’ expectations, Buhari’s government failed to reveal the identities of the terrorism financiers.
But Adesina stated that, “rest assured that these people will be dragged before justice, and justice will have its way.”
He added that investigations were ongoing at various security agencies before arraigning the suspects.
“Investigations are going on at different levels; it will be at the level of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; it will be at the level of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency. All the security agencies will be working on it so that when those people eventually appear in court, there will be a prima facie case against them,” the Presidential spokesperson said.
Last week, the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, also said he could not reveal the identities of Boko Haram sponsors.
Asked to name the financiers during an interview with Channels TV, Bawa said, “If you are my adviser, will you advise me to come on national television to tell the whole world regarding matters of sensitive national security issue? Certainly not.”
Kunle Olawunmi, a former navy commodore, in August, alleged that the Buhari regime was familiar with sponsors of terrorism but yet to bring them to book.
“The government has developed cold feet in fighting the insurgency because some of those backing Boko Haram are now top-ranking government officials,” the military intelligence expert had said. “Why can’t this government, if not that they are partisan, bring those people out for trial?”