Chief Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba Nation agitator, has denied the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, linking him to a Boko Haram sponsor.
Malami had linked Igboho to a Boko Haram sponsor, Surajo Muhammad, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United Arab Emirates on charges of financing terrorism, at a press conference on Friday.
According to the government, Igboho received N127 million from several financiers, including a federal lawmaker, between 2013 and 2020. The government, on the other hand, refused to reveal the lawmaker’s identity.
However, in a statement released through his lawyer, Chief Yomi Aliyyu SAN, Igboho stated that he is not involved in terrorism but rather in the car trade, which he described as a legitimate business.
He said, “Chief Sunday Igboho is a Businessman not a terrorist. Our attention has been drawn to a text of press conference by the Hon Attorney General and Minister of Finance wherein he fruitlessly tried to paint our client and those patronising his car trade as terrorists and/or financiers of terrorists.
” I have gone through the text. Sunday was alleged to have transferred the sum of N12.7m to Abbal Bako & Sons owned by Abdullahi Umar.
“Transferring money to bureau de change to buy dollars is what is done by every businessman of our client’s calibre. Thank God that his passports and various bills of ladings were carted away by DSS during the ungodly invasion of 1st July 2021.
“Thus, so far there is no evidence of receipt of money from Abbal Bako & Sons or Abdullahi Umar going by the text conference. What the Hon AGF stated are mere conjectures. Not hard fact.
” Our client according to him, paid Umar and not vice versa thus believing what the
Honorable Attorney General of the Federation earlier said that Chief Sunday Adeyemo is being financed by people. The picture the learned AGF wanted to paint is that our client is being financed by Abdullah Umar allegedly involved in terrorist financing. Who is now financing who?”
The lawyer claimed that Igboho was not involved in Yoruba self-determination activities until 2020, and that the discovery of N273 million in turnover between October 2013 and September 2020 proves that he was not a poor man.
He added, ” I challenge the Hon AGF to mention the lawmaker that sent money
to Chief Sunday Adeyemo for terrorist act whether he would not be damnified in exemplary damages for defamation.
“Up till date our client has not been prosecuted or found liable for any
criminal act or terrorism. There is also a valid and subsisting court judgement that agitation for self-determination is not an act of terrorism but fundamental human rights of any citizen.”
