DR. STEPHEN DAVIS
Not done yet with linking some prominent Nigerians with the sponsorship of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, an Australian negotiator has revealed that a large chunk of the finances of the terrorist organization may have been funneled through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Australian, Dr. Stephen Davis, who purportedly has access to the terrorist group and was in Nigeria for four months trying to negotiate with Boko Haram to release the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, said commanders of the sect told him a senior CBN official was fully involved in the funding of the insurgency.
In a phone interview from Australia with TheCable, his first with a Nigerian journalist, Davis said Western countries could not trace the majority of the source of funding to Boko Haram because “it is done through a legal channel, through the gatekeeper, the CBN, and that makes it very easy to cover up”.
He said Boko Haram commanders told him a senior CBN official, who currently works in the bank’s currency operations division, was the one handling the financial dealings of the sect.
“One of the biggest of suppliers of arms and military uniforms to the JAS (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram) currently lives in Cairo, Egypt. He is the recipient of money sent by political sponsors from Nigeria. The funds go through the CBN’s financial system and appear to be a legal transaction.
“Meanwhile, the CBN official who handles the funding is an uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya bombings. The three boys lived with him. They were arrested by the SSS (Department of State Security) after the bombings but they do not seem to have been interrogated about their uncle in CBN. Or if they have given up information about their uncle then the SSS has not moved against him”, Davis said.
He added that “a senior official of CBN, who recently left the bank, was very close to Sodiq Aminu Ogwuche, the mastermind of the Nyanya bombings, who also schooled in Sudan”.
“Boko haram commanders said Ogwuche’s wife used to visit this top official in his office at the headquarters of the bank in Abuja before the Nyanya bombings. They were very close”, Davis added.
The Australian negotiator said he decided to come out to speak now because the Nigerian authorities seemed not to be acting fast enough and he was heart-broken by the evils being perpetrated against the kidnapped Chibok girls and the many other girls and boys being held by Boko Haram.
“I have three daughters. I just cannot stand the thought of what those girls are passing through. I have spoken to an escapee who described how she was being defiled for 40 days by militants. I can’t stand it. It is heart-breaking. Nigerian authorities must act decisively now”, he said, revealing that he spent “days and weeks” with commanders of Boko Haram in the north-east during his time in Nigeria.
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
No comments:
Post a Comment