El-Rufai: Known sponsors of Boko Haram’re now in custody

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna has revealed that all known financiers of Boko Haram activities had been apprehended and taken into custody.

He said the terrorism financiers will soon be prosecuted.

The governor spoke at the weekly media briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team on Thursday in Abuja.

His words: “I am sure there is a reason for not naming and shaming them. Most of them (Boko Haram financiers) are in custody and they are going to be tried and you need to be very careful how much you reveal before putting them on trial.

“Virtually all of them are in custody. I can assure you that because the operation involved my state so I was being briefed as it was going on.

“We know their names and everything. They will be on trial soon and their trial is likely to be public so you will know them, but they are everywhere including Lagos and Port Harcourt, everywhere all over Nigeria.

“I was shocked to know that one of them was based in Zaria and the kind of money involved.

“I am sure there is a good reason why the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, did not mention their names and the reasons have to do with the fact that they are going to be tried.”

El-Rufai said no fewer than 1,192 citizens of Kaduna State have been killed and 3,348 kidnapped by bandits in 2021.

He also confirmed that 891 persons were injured and 13,623 animals rustled between January and December 2021 across the state.

He said the state government had so far spent N21 billion on logistics support to security agencies fighting bandits in the state in the last seven years.

According to him, the activities of bandits in the North-West zone are far more serious than insurgency in the North-East part of the country.

He noted that the number of people killed, kidnapped or injured as a result of the activities of the bandits in Katsina and Zamfara states were three times more than the affected citizens in Kaduna.

El-Rufai further maintained that despite the security challenges troubling his state, his administration had been able to deliver democratic dividends to its citizens.

He narrated the achievements of his administration to include human capital development, provision of free primary and secondary education, health sector reforms, social development, job creation and infrastructure development.

The Star