It would be recalled that the Abu Dhabi federal court of appeal sentenced two of the convicts identified as Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu to life imprisonment followed by deportation.
The court sentenced the other four, Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa and Bashir Ali Yusuf, to ten (10) years in prison and also followed by deportation.
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The convicts were found guilty of setting up a Boko Haram cell in the UAE to raise funds and material assistance for the insurgents in Nigeria.
A UAE federal supreme court also turned down an appeal by the six Nigerians, upholding the ruling of the appeal court.
Speaking with Daily Trust, the family said the Nigerians were into bureau de change business and had been doing their business legitimately both in Nigeria and in the UAE.
They said that their relatives were most likely deceived in the course of their routine bureau de change transactions to the extent that some of the transactions they facilitated turned out to be for proceeds meant for Boko Haram activities.
“It was gathered that one of the Boko Haram couriers, Alhaji Sa’idu, would arrange an unidentified or vaguely identified Arab person on a visit to Dubai from Turkey to hand over an amount of money in US Dollars to one of the convicts who would, in turn, advise his Nigerian-based business partners to hand over the Naira equivalent of the amount to him (Alhaji Sa’idu).”
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A source within the family was quoted to have said, “Alhaji Sa’idu is just Nom de guerre who used the gullibility of the victims to achieve his aim. They were into bureau de change business, receiving and sending monies on behalf of others.
“From what I understand, they have been doing the business for long and along the line, they fell into a trap. I am not siding with them or trying to indict them but generally, there is ignorance on their side.”
The family said they tried to seek help from the Nigerian authorities, but nothing was forthcoming.
The newspaper reported that Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney-general, said the government had reached out to the UAE but that the country was yet to respond.
“Nigerian government has written firstly for copies of the proceedings, which will give us the opportunity to see whether justice was done or not. And on whether they have committed the crime, we requested to know who and who are involved so that the Nigerian government will know what to do next,” the AGF was quoted.
“Nigerian government is working but it doesn’t have the exclusive control, it has to rely on the information provided by UAE. So, it is not in control of the speed of response or action.
“We are working on both the issues that they did not receive a fair hearing and that they were alleged to have supported Boko Haram activities.”
The convicted Nigerians were said to have transferred up to $800,000 in favour of Boko Haram between 2015 and 2016.
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