By Our Reporter
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – A controversial counter-terrorism mission personally authorised by former President Muhammadu Buhari (late) has re-emerged in national discourse, following serious allegations by retired Nigerian Army Major General Abdul Khalifa Ali-Keffi, the former General Officer Commanding 1 Division.
The retired officer revealed that Operation Service Wide (OSW), the high-level multi-agency task force he led in 2021, uncovered far-reaching evidence linking Boko Haram financiers to powerful figures across government, the military, and the financial sector.
Ali-Keffi, who was handpicked to head the operation, said OSW was mandated to trace Boko Haram masterminds, disrupt their funding structures, and dismantle the networks sustaining the insurgency. The work, he claimed, unearthed a complex web of financiers connected to senior government officials, top military officers, and major financial institutions.
According to documents obtained by SaharaReporters, OSW, in collaboration with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), arrested several high-profile terrorism-financing suspects in March 2021. These arrests stemmed from extensive financial intelligence that identified suspicious money flows linked to terrorism.
In September 2021, Ali-Keffi and the NFIU formally briefed Buhari on their findings. Present at the meeting was then-Chief of Army Staff, General Faruk Yahaya (rtd.), who was later linked to one of the arrested individuals.
Ali-Keffi said the briefing marked a turning point. The following month, he was ordered to report to the Headquarters of Military Police. On 18 October 2021, he presented himself and was detained for hours during interrogation. He was subsequently held for 64 days without charge, query, or trial before being compulsorily retired from the Army.
“Till today, I don’t know my offence,” he said, insisting that his arrest was aimed at derailing the terrorism-financing investigation.
READ ALSO: FG disburses N3.7bn TISSF funds to 2,000 tertiary education staff
He petitioned President Bola Tinubu for redress, but he stated that no action was taken. He later approached the National Industrial Court, which he says has not convened on the matter because court processes were not served on the Nigerian Army. He alleged possible “foul play,” echoing concerns raised by his lawyer.
Ali-Keffi emphasised that his claims were not based on speculation but on information reportedly given to him directly by the then-Director/CEO of the NFIU, Modibbo Hamman-Tukur Ribadu. He said Ribadu disclosed that two suspects were linked to former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd.), two to former Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN), and one to former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele. Gen. Faruk Yahaya (rtd.) was linked to another suspect.
“I am not accusing Buratai, Malami, or Emefiele of terrorism financing,” he clarified. “But I was informed that investigations linked them to some of the suspects. I don’t know if they were later cleared.”
He said Buratai allegedly asked Ribadu to persuade him to release two suspects. Ali-Keffi claimed he refused and instead reported the matter directly to Buhari, without naming Buratai. Buhari, he said, responded sternly, telling him, “You report to me and to me alone.”
Ali-Keffi noted that none of the senior figures linked to suspects were found to be directly involved in terrorism. The links, he explained, were based on business relationships with individuals running Bureau De Change operations suspected of doubling as fronts for illicit activities.
He revealed that one international suspect, Aboubacar Hima, had an offshore account holding about $600 million. OSW traced the account through the NFIU and alerted the United States, which froze the funds. However, he said he was later informed that someone acting for Hima offered $50 million for Nigeria to notify the US that it had no objection to the funds, an offer he declined.
Upon his release from detention, Ali-Keffi said Ribadu told him that the Nigerian government eventually wrote to US authorities requesting the account be unfrozen. He also claimed Buhari directed the NFIU boss to “reconcile with Malami” over their disagreements.
He said OSW had gathered substantial evidence to prosecute 48 terrorism-financing suspects, but there was pressure to downgrade the charges to money laundering, which he believed was an attempt to divert the case to the EFCC. At the time, the EFCC was chaired by Abdulrasheed Bawa, who Ali-Keffi said was related to Malami.
He alleged that a top prosecution lawyer working with OSW was removed after refusing to support the push to reframe the charges. The AGF’s office, he said, did not secure court orders for asset forfeitures, applying only for detention orders instead.
Ali-Keffi said these manoeuvres showed that “the presidency and powerful officials wanted to kill the investigation.”
Following his removal and compulsory retirement, OSW was effectively shut down. All suspects arrested by the operation were eventually released. None of the 20 high-profile suspects, nor others detained for months, were charged. Ali-Keffi claimed they were warned not to grant interviews or pursue legal action over their prolonged detention. He said this information came from an insider with direct knowledge.
Perhaps most striking was Ali-Keffi’s disclosure that OSW had compiled a list of more than 400 individuals to be arrested or eliminated, including Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. “We couldn’t arrest Shekau, so we ‘engineered’ what happened to him,” he said, referring to the notorious commander’s death.
He added that the NFIU, EFCC, and the Office of the Attorney-General were in the best position to confirm whether funds traced to terror suspects were recovered or released.
Ali-Keffi continues to maintain that his arrest, detention, and compulsory retirement were consequences of refusing to compromise an investigation that touched some of Nigeria’s most influential individuals.
