The United States has frozen the assets and properties of eight Nigerians on suspicion of having ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL, and Boko Haram.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the US Treasury published a more than 3,000-page report over the weekend that included those who had been sanctioned for offences relating to cybercrime and other security risks.
The announcement follows the US Congress’s recent proposals to freeze assets and bar visas for Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the former governor of Kano State, and other Miyetti Allah groups in connection with the purported Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The document serves as a reference tool, giving notice of actions taken against Specially Designated Nationals, or SDNs, whose property and interests were blocked as part of its counterterrorism activities.
It included information about individuals from different nationalities and businesses whose assets had been frozen.
OFAC said the action was a part of its larger efforts to restrict Specially Designated Nationals’ (SDNs’) property and interests and to stop financial transactions with them.
“This publication of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, is designed as a reference tool providing actual notice of actions by OFAC with respect to Specially Designated Nationals and other persons (which term includes both individuals and entities) whose property is blocked, to assist the public in complying with the various sanctions programmes administered by OFAC,” the agency said.
Salih Yusuf Adamu, also called Salihu Yusuf, was born in Nigeria on August 23, 1990, and is one of the people on the list.
Yusuf, who had a Nigerian passport, was found to have connections to Boko Haram.
Six Nigerians, including Yusuf Adamu, were convicted in 2022 of establishing a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates in order to earn money for Haram fighters in Nigeria.
The six guys were found guilty in the United Arab Emirates at the time of trying to transfer $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria.
Another offender is Babestan Oluwole Ademulero. Babestan Oluwole Ademulero was assigned to [SDNTK] after being born in Nigeria on March 4, 1953.
He went under several aliases, such as Olatunde Irewole Shofeso and Wole A. Babestan.
Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi, commonly known as Ba Idrisa, was also designated.
According to reports, Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi was born in Maiduguri, Borno state, between 1989 and 1994. Sanctions relating to terrorism were applied to him.
Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, also known as Habib Yusuf, was mentioned between 1990 and 1995 with a range of birth years. He was designated as a leader of Boko Haram and subject to anti-terrorism sanctions.
Khaled/Khalid Al-Barnawi was born in Maiduguri, Nigeria, in 1976. The name Khaled or Khalid Al-Barnawi was mentioned twice in the publication.
He used several names, such as Abu Hafsat and Mohammed Usman, and was associated with Boko Haram.
Ibrahim Ali Alhassan was described as having a Nigerian passport. He was born in Nigeria on January 31, 1981. He was connected to Boko Haram and was said to live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, also known as Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Al-Mainuki, was born in Mainok, Borno state, in 1982.
His affiliation with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was revealed.
Born in Nigeria on March 21, 1987, Nnamdi Orson Benson was on the [CYBER2] sanctions list. He had a passport from Nigeria.
The addition of these names to the OFAC list demonstrated Washington’s ongoing commitment to combating cyberthreats and terrorism funding.
US citizens were typically forbidden from doing business with these individuals as a result of the sanctions, which barred all of their assets and interests inside the US jurisdiction.
Under Executive Order 13224, Nigerians on the US Treasury sanctions list risk having their assets frozen.
In 2013, the United States formally classified Boko Haram as a “foreign terrorist group.”
The State Department claims the 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 Secretary of State of the United States concludes that some nations have consistently supported acts of international terrorism.
Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, Section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and Section 1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 all classified these nations.
