General Ali-Keffi appeals to Tinubu over detention for exposing masterminds with terrorism financing. President Bola Tinubu has received a letter from Maj Gen Ali-Keffi, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army's 1 Mechanized Division, about his arrest, incarceration, and mandatory retirement.
As head of Operation Service Wide (OPS), which was established by former President Muhammadu Buhari to look into those involved in terrorism financing, he claimed that this was in response to revelations made by a presidential investigative task force he headed, which revealed the involvement of top military brass, senior government officials, and a top banker in terrorism financing. Major General BM Monguno (rtd), the former National Security Adviser (NSA), called a five-week Board of Inquiry (BOI) that Ali-Keffi oversaw and held in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) from early January to late February 2020.
As the President of the Board of Inquiry, I oversaw a group of members and secretaries from the NCS, NIS, DSS, NIA, ONSA, and NFIU. The Board of Inquiry was primarily charged with investigating the circumstances surrounding the illicit smuggling of petroleum products into the Benin Republic through a single smuggling route in Ilesa Barbara, Kwara State. According to him, the BoI went above and above to find 295 oil tankers that carried Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and the main smugglers that were identified.
According to the petition, the BoI produced an important finding on the connection between the smuggling network, the terrorism plaguing the Northeast, and the ransom kidnapping/banditry that was developing in the North-West and some areas of the North-Central geopolitical zones. He asserted that this included large-scale money laundering, primarily for counterterrorism and insurgency activities that were mostly taking place in the country's northern areas, as well as illicit mineral extraction in the northwest and north-central regions. The hub for transferring money for terrorism and other illegal acts mentioned above was a syndicate with a wide-ranging network throughout the nation and linkages to the global criminal network.
The most concerning thing was that there were people with ties to the military who were financing Boko Haram terrorists and obtaining and transferring weapons and ammunition for BH and other criminal groups. This meant that terrorism and insurgency in the North-east, North-west, and North-central regions were criminal enterprises with profit—rather than ideology—serving as the driving force behind them.
"Therefore, it is evident to us at the BOI that progress cannot be made until the leaders, financiers, accomplices, and supporters of terrorist and insurgent organizations are found and the network destroyed," he stated. According to the petitioner, suggestions on the results were made and forwarded to the president.
The petition claimed that the operation had effectively penetrated the terror groups' leadership in the northeast, leading to their annihilation, and that important terrorism funders were connected to those found guilty of funding terrorism in the United Arab Emirates. The petitioner stated that the task force became a "victim of unfair attacks" when it was denied money to continue operating. He remarked, "This supports the claim that some influential people in the military and in and out of government felt uneasy about the task force, and particularly about my modesty as commander."
The petitioner claimed that the task force suffered a setback when Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, the acting army chief, passed away and Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya took over as GOC of the 1st Mechanized Division, Kaduna. He observed that the AGF was "less helpful" after the president. He said that the entire ordeal resulted in his imprisonment and 64 days in solitary confinement, during which he slept on the floor, having negative health effects. He bemoaned that the most agonizing aspect of his ordeal was that President Buhari, who permitted him to lead the task group, did not intervene to save him. Thus, he asked President Tinubu to become involved in the situation.
Please launch an inquiry into the events surrounding my arrest, confinement, mistreatment, and forced retirement from the Nigerian Army, he pleaded to the president. In addition, he requested reimbursement for the task force's expenses related to renting cars and apartments, as well as a review of his forced retirement from the army and a move to voluntary retirement. In addition, Ali-Keffi requested authorization for personal security as well as recompense for the suffering and wounds sustained while detained.
