A blistering SaharaReporters investigation has blown open a sophisticated, well-oiled network of 23 suspected terror financiers, a mix of Nigerian businessmen, bureau-de-change operators, jewel dealers, tobacco magnates, and foreign collaborators, who allegedly pumped tens of billions of naira into Boko Haram’s deadly machinery.
The network sprawls across continents: Kano, Abuja, Zaria, Gusau, Dubai, South Africa, Rwanda, Niger, and mirrors some of the most damning testimonies and judgments ever recorded in UAE terrorism courts.
Yet, despite arrests made as far back as 2021, many of these suspects are today walking free, raising the chilling question: Who is protecting Nigeria’s terror financiers?
A BILLION-NAIRA NETWORK HIDING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
What investigators uncovered is staggering:
• Hundreds of bank accounts tied to a single individual.
• Billions flowing in and out like a private central bank.
• Cross-border transfers that match patterns of known weapons procurement.
• Direct financial exchanges with already-convicted Boko Haram funders.
It is a parallel economy of terror, run not from caves, but from offices, markets, airport lounges, and luxury apartments.
THE NIGERIAN HUB OF THE TERROR FINANCE MACHINE
1. Alhaji Saidu Ahmed — ₦4.8 billion inflows
A 63-year-old Zaria businessman whose financial trails intersect repeatedly with convicted Boko Haram financiers.
Core financier. Core operator. Core enabler.
2. Usaini “Baba Hussaini” Adamu — 111 Accounts, ₦43bn In / ₦50bn Out
A Kano businessman with account volumes that rival small banks. He allegedly guaranteed the accounts used for weapons purchases.
3. Muhammad Sani Adam — 41 Accounts, ₦54.1bn Inflows. He is a forex dealer whose transactions read like a directory of convicted terror funders.
4. Abubakar “Yellow Amfani” Adamu — 42 Accounts, ₦61.4bn In / ₦51.7bn Out. His accounts show tens of millions sent to Boko Haram convicts over five years.
5. Murtala Abdullahi Jega — 94 accounts. BDC operator who moved funds to Leaf Tobacco & Commodities, repeatedly identified as a weapons procurement channel for terrorists.
6. Sadiq Garba Abubakar — 30 accounts. Moved over ₦1.65 billion directly to known convicts.
7. Hussaini Adamu, a critical “transit pipe,” shuttling billions among network members.
8. Mustapha Ibrahim Yakubu — 39 accounts. Moved ₦2bn to Bahafs Global and over ₦345m to Jega, embedding him deep into the procurement chain.
9. Ali Abdullahi Yusuf — 43 accounts. Brother to two convicted financiers; money movements link him to at least 40 known collaborators.
10. Nasiru Shuaibu: Recorded multi-billion inflows, including ₦5.4bn from fellow suspect Muhammad Sani.
11. Yusuf Ghazali — 385 Accounts. A forex trader with one of the largest account footprints in Nigeria’s financial history. Named in UAE court papers for moving funds between Dubai and Nigeria for Boko Haram.
ADDITIONAL SUSPECTED BANKROLLERS
12. Mansur Muhammad Usman — UAE-Linked. A serial feature in UAE terror judgments; courier of millions.
13. Yazid Usman Muhammad. A transfer agent embedded in the same UAE-documented pipeline.
14. Alhaji Musa Emma — ₦2.4bn Cash Withdrawn. Based in Maiduguri, sits at the heart of the insurgency corridor.
15. Modu Sulum: Small account footprint; big connections to Maiduguri’s terror money ecosystem.
16. Adamu Aliyu Kanoma — 83 Accounts ₦10bn Cash Withdrawals; a jeweler whose financial activity defies every logic of legitimate trade.
17. Habibu Muhammad Usama — 39 Accounts, ₦7bn Cash Withdrawals. His transactions connect repeatedly to major financiers, including Saidu Ahmed.
18. Nurudeen Gani Aliyu — 218 Accounts. A Sokoto BDC titan who transferred funds to Leaf Tobacco & Commodities, an internationally cited terror procurement front.
19. Ladan Ibrahim — 47 Accounts. A serving Nigerian public official—Chairman of the Sokoto Pilgrims Welfare Agency, moving government-linked funds to terror networks.
20. Sadiq Garba Abubakar (Re-emphasized). One of the most central actors, moving billions with terrifying ease.
THE FOREIGN LIFELINES
1. Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa (Late) — 70 Accounts, ₦67bn Inflows. The late Rwandan tycoon, with offshore connections from South Africa to Dubai, linked through financial exchanges with Nigerian suspects.
2. Paul Nkwaya, Co-owner of Leaf Tobacco & Commodities, shared Ayabatwa’s accounts and allegedly processed transfers linked to Boko Haram convicts.
3. Aboubacar Hima (Petit): A Nigerien arms dealer whose name has surfaced repeatedly in international weapons-trafficking cases.
THE SHOCKING BOTTOM LINE
This is not a random collection of businessmen, neither is it an accidental pattern. This is a purpose-built, cash-flush, globally connected financial engine feeding one of Africa’s deadliest terror groups.
And the unanswered question thunders louder than ever: Why were these men arrested, released and forgotten?
Who benefits from keeping Nigeria’s terror financiers untouchable? And how many lives have been lost because the system chose silence?
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