The United States government has frozen the assets and properties of eight Nigerians accused of ties to Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The action was detailed in a 3,000-page document dated February 10, released by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The publication forms part of OFAC’s updated Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), which identifies individuals and entities subject to US sanctions.
According to OFAC, the sanctions block all property and interests belonging to the listed individuals within US jurisdiction.
US persons and entities are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. The measures were imposed under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorism.
Names on the List
Among those designated is Salih Yusuf Adamu, also known as Salihu Yusuf, born August 23, 1990. He was convicted in the United Arab Emirates in 2022 for establishing a Boko Haram cell in Dubai to raise funds for insurgents in Nigeria.
The group attempted to transfer $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria.
Others listed include:
- Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi, also known as Ba Idrisa, born between 1989 and 1994 in Maiduguri.
- Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, also referred to as Habib Yusuf, identified as a Boko Haram leader.
- Khaled (or Khalid) Al-Barnawi, born in 1976 in Maiduguri, linked to Boko Haram under multiple aliases.
- Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, born January 31, 1981, residing in Abu Dhabi.
- Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Mainuki, also known as Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, born in 1982 in Mainok, tied to ISIL.
- Babestan Oluwole Ademulero, born March 4, 1953, listed under SDNTK sanctions.
- Nnamdi Orson Benson, born March 21, 1987, designated under CYBER2 sanctions for cybercrime-related offences.
The asset freeze comes amid renewed pressure from US lawmakers, who recently recommended visa bans and asset freezes against certain Nigerian individuals and groups accused of religious persecution.
Those recommendations, which remain separate from the latest OFAC designations, included former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association.
The United States formally designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2013.
According to the US State Department, the group has carried out numerous attacks in northern Nigeria and across the Lake Chad Basin, resulting in thousands of deaths since 2009.
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Us are really trying but they should also unfreeze the Nigerian, because Life is of paramount.