By John Ikani
Six Nigerians have been sanctioned by the United States for allegedly supporting Nigeria-based terrorist group, Boko Haram.
The U.S, in a statement by Department of States spokesperson Ned Price, listed the individuals as Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Musa, Adamu, Yusuf, Isa, Alhassan and Muhammad to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.
The statement reads: “The United States is designating six individuals for their support of the terrorist group Boko Haram. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added Nigerian nationals Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.
“Today’s action follows the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutions, convictions, and designations of these individuals for supporting terrorism. The Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization on November 14, 2013. The Nigeria-based group is responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2009.”
“The U.S. Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on November 14, 2013,” it added
The statement quoted US Secretary of the Treasury, Brian Nelson, as saying that with the action, the US joined the UAE in targeting terrorist financing networks of mutual concern.
“Treasury continues to target financial facilitators of terrorist activity worldwide. We welcome multilateral action on this Boko Haram network to ensure that it is not able to move any further funds through the international financial system,” he said.
The UAE Federal Court of Appeals in Abu Dhabi had earlier convicted Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad for transferring $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“Salihu Yusuf Adamu and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad were sentenced to life imprisonment for violations of UAE anti-terrorism laws; Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, and Ibrahim Ali Alhassan were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by deportation.
“Today’s designations will prevent these individuals’ funds from being used further to support terrorism,” the statement added.
Sanction implications
The US department said as a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the individuals named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
The statement read, “Unless authorised by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
“Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals designated today entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended. Pursuant to this authority, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
“The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from its ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law.
“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish but to bring about a positive change in behavior.”
