The federal government instructed financial institutions and designated non-financial organisations and professions yesterday to ensure complete compliance with sanctions responsibilities by freezing the assets of terrorist financiers.
The instruction was issued in the context of sanctions imposed by the US government on a Nigerian financier of ISIS and his three Bureaux De Change in Lagos and Kano, reports Vanguard.
It would be recalled that the US government had used its Executive Order 13224, to sanction the Lagos-based financier, identified as Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, 35, and the three BDCs, including Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited; Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, and Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited; for allegedly moving funds for ISIS, as part of a sweeping action targeting the group’s financial networks across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.
Besides Mukhtar Muhammad Adamu and three BDCs identified by the US government, the Federal Government on June 18, 2026, added six more names to the list of those to be sanctioned.
They include Ibrahim Yakubu Ogirima, Adamu Chiroma, Ibrahim Abubakar, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Babangida Muhammed, Adamu Hammajam and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change Limited.
Reacting to the US action yesterday the Nigerian Sanctions Committee said in a statement: “The federal government reiterates its directive to all financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions to comply fully with all sanctions obligations, including asset-freezing requirements, the filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports and the reporting of relevant matches to the appropriate authorities.’’
While declaring that terrorists and their financiers will not find a safe haven with Nigeria’s financial system, the committee said the action taken by the US government effectively places Washington’s weight behind sanctions already imposed by Nigeria, signalling a coordinated effort to choke off financial networks that helped sustain terrorists groups and other extreme actors.
The Committee appreciated the decision of the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to designate Mukthar Muhammad Adamu, Nine to Nine BDC Limited and Generation Currency BDC Limited.
The three were among individuals named in an update to the Nigeria Sanctions List issued on June 18, 2026.
The statement read: “Nigeria remains resolute in its commitment to ensure that terrorists and their financiers do not find safe haven in the country’s financial system.”
The committee said the listing of six individuals and three entities was the result of extensive intelligence gathering, financial investigations and inter-agency assessments that established reasonable grounds to believe that the affected individuals and entities “facilitated, financed, supported or otherwise contributed to the activities of the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, and associated terrorist networks.”
In the sanctions procedure, the committee also praised the work of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the National Security Adviser.
It also complimented the Central Bank of Nigeria, Department of State Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for helping efforts to cut off the financial lifelines of terrorist organisations.
The committee praised the agencies for taking steps to guarantee that terrorist groups were denied the funding that sustained their activity.
The committee underlined Nigeria’s commitment to engage with domestic and international partners to tackle terrorism financing and improve the integrity of the country’s financial system.
“The government will continue to work closely with domestic stakeholders and international partners to protect national security, bolster financial integrity and support global efforts to combat terrorism and terrorist financing,” the statement said.
# DIA: US, UK and France, have broken the backbone of ISIS and others, military
In a related development, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI, Lt. General Emmanuel Undiandeye, said yesterday the military is working in close coordination with allied forces including the US, UK and France and had broken the backbone of terrorists and their cronies who have been causing security challenges in the country.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDI) revealed at the Second Quarter Operations Briefing for Foreign Defence Advisers and Attaches’ at the DIA headquarters that the resilient Nigerian armed forces had largely neutralised the foot-soldiers and many commanders of ISIS leadership and Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
“Our forces have attacked, destroyed and decimated them so much that their logistics, arms and ammunition couriers and other supporting networks have been defeated,” he said.
“Nigeria is safe. “Better operational capabilities, intelligence and technology in close coordination with our allied partners especially the US, UK and France have largely contained the security challenges facing our nation,” he said.
Lt. Gen Undiandeye said the quarterly briefing intended to intimate the defence advisers and attaches with the genuine security condition of things in the country, so that they would carry same back home.
He said the occasion was also an opportunity to showcase the cordial synergy and working relationship between the security and intelligence agencies in the concerted efforts to combat the various security threats facing the nation, which, he said, was yielding great operational successes on various fronts.
The Director of Foreign Liaison, Major General Ojogbane Adegbe, in his remarks, said the operational brief was one of the ways the agency uses to inform the advisers about the security situations in Nigeria and the Sahel.
“It is also a forum where accredited DA’s and Attached interact with not only the agency but also other sister security agencies and stakeholders who work closely with the armed forces of Nigeria to ensure security of lives of the citizenry,” he added.
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