The federal government has named Tukur Mamu, Desert Herald newspaper publisher, as one of 15 terrorism financiers in the country.

Mamu was listed alongside six bureau de change (BDC) operators and eight other persons, accroding to The PUNCH.

The newspaper wrote that it relied on a document from the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) titled ‘Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024’. This document recommends sanctions for the named parties.

According to this document, 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”.

Following a request by the Department of State Services, Interpol arrested Mamu on September 7, 2022, in Cairo, Egypt. They sent him back to Kano to stand trial for alleged terrorism financing.

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During the arrest, he spoke with Daily Trust newspaper, saying, “I don’t have anything to hide and I’m not afraid of them (DSS). I swear to God, I’m not afraid of them. I just want the world to know of what is happening.”

The government found $300,000 in his possession and dubbed it terrorism funds. Also found was correspondence with one Baba Adamu, a Boko Haram spokesperson. At the time, Mamu was a media aide to Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric who had also negotiated the release of abductees.

According to the NFIU document, 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 is also an improvised explosive device expert”.

There was also “a senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene” and “a financial courier to ISWAP Okene”.

Among the suspects were persons accused of “receiving a total of N57 million from between 2014 and 2017” and “a total inflow of N61.4 billion and a total outflow of N51.7 billion from his accounts.”