FG knows Boko Haram financiers – Ex-COAS Buratai

 Tukur Buratai, former chief of army staff, says that he should not be blamed for the failure to publicly disclose the names of individuals allegedly financing terrorism in Nigeria.

He, however, maintained that those behind the funding of insurgency are known and remain within society.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday, the retired lieutenant general said relevant authorities are aware of the financiers but have reasons for not revealing their identities.

“You cannot say I should be responsible for naming the financiers of terror.

“It’s not just about mentioning names; those agencies know why the names are not released. Action should be taken; these individuals are still within society today, and they are known. I take responsibility for certain things that are strictly the Nigerian Army’s responsibility,” he said.

Buratai also clarified that the policy of rehabilitating repentant Boko Haram members was a government initiative, not a military decision.

“The initial concept that we had was that we gave them a timeline to surrender in 2016, and if they surrendered, we gave them a free passage and handed them over to appropriate agencies to rehabilitate them,” he added.

The former ambassador expressed concern over Nigeria’s persistent security challenges and called for improved intelligence gathering to combat terrorism and related threats.

He also urged the government to recruit more security personnel to strengthen national security efforts.

Calls for the disclosure of terrorism financiers have continued for years, especially after the Federal Government announced in 2021 that it had identified individuals and entities allegedly funding insurgent groups.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit had earlier indicated that it tracked suspicious financial flows linked to terrorism, while security agencies intensified investigations into such networks.

Despite these efforts, the names of the suspected financiers have largely remained undisclosed, attracting criticism from civil society organisations and security analysts who argue that transparency is essential to ending impunity.

Nigeria has faced insurgency in the North-East for over a decade, with Boko Haram and its splinter groups responsible for thousands of deaths and widespread displacement.