Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has convicted six Nigerians over alleged funding of Boko Haram, report says.
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The conviction was upheld by the appellate court after they lost an earlier appeal at a lower court. It was reported on Monday that Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The rest, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, got ten-year imprisonment each.
Court documents show that between 2015 and 2016, the convicts were allegedly involved in cash transfers totalling $782,000.00 to Boko Haram.
But in a reaction the brother of two of the convicts Ibrahim Ali and Bashir Ali, Auwalu Ali claimed his brothers were not given fair hearing at the trial. He also claimed that the Nigeria government did not offer the necessary aid during the trial. Auwalu Ali claimed that his brothers are legitimate business men who engage in money exchange in UAE. He narrated how his brothers started their business which is registered in UAE.
In a swift reaction, the Attorney General of Nigeria and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami made it clear that the country is doing everything possible as far as the matter. Malami said that a letter of requests for the trial proceedings has been written to the UAE authority but are yet to get a response from them. He explained that the speed of response and action is not in the hands of Nigeria but in the hands of UAE thereby the delay.
“Nigeria government is working but it doesn’t have exclusive control, it has to rely on information provided by the UAE. So it (government) is not in control of response and action” Malami said. Making further explanation, Malami said that they are working on two issues here , which are the fact they were not given fair hearing and that the convicts have supported the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.
He concludes by saying “We await further intelligence from UAE, which has relevance to the conviction and trial in order that we can do what we have as a follow-up to take the next line of action ” report says.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK