The Federal Government will be giving
the French Government account details of the sponsors of terrorist
group, Indigenous People of Biafra, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
The
Nigerian Government had through the Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that France was the headquarters of
IPOB’s funding. But the European country on Thursday said it had no
knowledge of IPOB’s presence in France.
But a very senior
government official said the Federal Government had reached out to
France, explaining that it did not accuse the country of being the
sponsors of Biafra but that a large transfer of funds were made
regularly from France to IPOB in Nigeria.
It was learnt that the
Federal Government had asked the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit
and the Central Bank of Nigeria to compile the needed information on the
sponsors and it hand it over to the French government.
The
government will also write the Special Control Unit against Money
Laundering, which is tasked with the mandate of supervising, monitoring
and regulating Designated Non-Financial Institutions as regards
compliance to Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the
Financing of Terrorism.
The source, who pleaded anonymity because
he was not authorised by the government to speak on the issue yet,
said, “The French Government has reached out to us over the IPOB matter.
It said we should give it account details and any other evidence
showing that France was where the majority of the money was coming from.
“So,
the government has accepted that challenge and we will be instructing
the NFIU, SCUML and the CBN to hand over all the details of IPOB’s
funding to us in one comprehensive report which will be submitted to the
French Government.
“Since IPOB has been declared a terrorist
organisation by a court in Nigeria, the French Government, which claims
to be against Nigeria’s break-up, is expected to give us maximum
cooperation.”
According to the government other countries from
which IPOB also received huge cash inflows include: Turkey, Senegal,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States.
The operative said reports would also be given to the aforementioned countries.
He
added, “Before his arrest, Nnamdi Kanu had appealed to people of Igbo
extraction in some of these countries to provide him with funds which
would be used in buying weapons and bringing down the Nigerian
Government.
“In a video, which has even gone viral on Youtube, Kanu said he needed guns. This is not hearsay.
“We
will also be writing these countries informing them of the need to
ensure that IPOB’s source of funding is traced and blocked.”
In a related development, the Federal Government has said that sponsors of the proscribed IPOB are now afraid.
It
also said it had evidence that those sponsoring the organisation were
those undergoing investigation or those that were politically
disgruntled, but that it would not give out their names.
Mohammed stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.
He said that discerning Nigerians would know those behind the funding of the organisation.
The
minister had earlier accused corrupt and disgruntled politicians of
being behind IPOB, adding that the plan of the sponsors was to return to
power in 2019 with the intention to continue with the looting of the
treasury.
However, the main opposition party, the Peoples
Democratic Party, replied the minister and asked the government to name
the sponsors.
But Mohammed said the claim by the PDP was not true, adding that only the guilty were afraid.
He
said, “Only the guilty are afraid. We have said it. You don’t need
rocket science to know that those who are facing investigations are
those who don’t want the government to succeed.
“They hold on to
any platform to derail the Federal Government. It is not when we release
their names. We know those who are sponsoring IPOB belong to these two
groups. These are those who are politically disgruntled and those who
are treasury looters. So, it is not when we start mentioning names.”
The
minister added that the government was already handling the issues
surrounding the allegations he made against France and the United
Kingdom.
While he alleged that France was the headquarters of
IPOB and where its sponsors were based, he said that Radio Biafra was
located in the United Kingdom.
Both countries have however denied
the minister’s claim. Mohammed said that Nigeria was already handling
the issue at the diplomatic level.
“It is a diplomatic matter and we are handling it at that level,” he said
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