In February 2022, the Nigerian government stood before the world with a bold claim: it had uncovered 96 terrorism financiers, 424 associates, 123 companies, and 33 bureaux de change linked to violent extremist networks tearing the nation apart.
The announcement, delivered by then Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, should have shaken the country to its core. It should have led to arrests, trials, televised forfeitures, and a long-awaited reckoning, given a shadowy economic ecosystem that has kept Nigeria bleeding. Instead, it evaporated.
Names were never mentioned. No financier was publicly paraded. No trial followed. The list a national security goldmine was simply sealed away.
And Nigeria moved on, leaving citizens to ask, Where are the terrorism sponsors? Why were they never named?
When Terror Has No Face
For years, ordinary Nigerians have buried loved ones, paid ransoms, and prayed as bandits, insurgents and extremist cells spread across villages, highways, schools, and even prisons. Yet, the real architects, the money men have remained faceless, untouched, insulated by power and secrecy.
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The NFIU’s investigation from 2020-2021 told a devastating story of money moving quietly through Nigeria’s financial system, strengthening killers and destabilizing communities. The intelligence flagged:
- N3.9 trillion in VAT evasion
- N3.7 trillion in withholding tax manipulation
- 26 suspected bandits & kidnappers with 7 accomplices
- International terror-finance links spanning 19 countries
This was enough evidence to tighten the noose on the most dangerous criminal networks in Nigerian history.
Yet justice stalled, a nation bled, government withheld names and terrorism thrived.
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Flashback to 2015, the world was stunned when Ahmed Al-Assir, one of the Middle East’s most wanted terrorists, was arrested in Lebanon — wielding a Nigerian visa.
How did a notorious extremist linked to ISIS obtain a Nigerian entry permit?
Who cleared it?
Who aided his escape route?
Nigeria promised an investigation. Diplomats were questioned. A recall of the Beirut mission head was considered. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led a probe. The result? Silence. Again, the trail ended in a locked drawer. Another case buried.
America Steps Forward — And Then Steps In
On May 1, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged stronger support for Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram during a White House meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari the first African leader invited by Trump. Trump announced plans to supply Nigeria with additional helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano aircraft, saying the equipment would help target terrorists and protect civilians.
Buhari thanked the U.S. for its military and humanitarian support, but Trump pressed for greater market access, noting that America provides Nigeria with over $1 billion in aid annually. Trump also urged Nigeria to address religious violence and protect citizens of all faiths.
In 2022, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned six Nigerians convicted in the UAE for funneling $782,000 to Boko Haram. While foreign governments publicly named and jailed terror financiers, Nigeria remained mute on its own list.
The message to Nigerians was clear, others were fighting for our safety, while we protected our criminals.
A Country that Forgives Terror but Forgets Justice
Against this backdrop came one of Nigeria’s most painful symbols of impunity, the murder of Deborah Samuel, a university student stoned and burned in Sokoto in May 2022.
three year after the brutal lynching of Deborah Samuel a 200-level student killed in Sokoto on May 12, 2022 over alleged blasphemy justice remains out of reach. Despite graphic video footage showing classmates and mobs stoning and burning her while security operatives failed to intervene, no suspect has been prosecuted. Initial promises from the Sokoto State Government, the Federal Government, and police have faded into silence, and the case has slipped into official oblivion.
Deborah’s devastated parents were forced to flee Sokoto for safety. Violent protests erupted in the city demanding the release of arrested suspects, with churches and Christian-owned properties targeted. Many Christian students abandoned the campus in fear. Yet, individuals seen in viral videos openly boasting about her murder still walk freely. The only two suspects ever arraigned were released for “lack of diligent prosecution.”
Three years on, Deborah’s killers remain unpunished a stark reminder of Nigeria’s weakened justice system. A nation that cannot secure justice for a crime committed in broad daylight and recorded on camera risks normalising lawlessness and betraying its citizens’ faith in the rule of law.
In a country where terror financiers kept their names and properties, why would a mob killing bother the system?
The Tinubu Era: New Power, Old Shadows
On November 1, 2025, the United States once again designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” over religious persecution. The next day, U.S. President Trump escalated threats “We may go into Nigeria guns-a-blazing.” “Either the Nigerian government protects Christians, or we will.”
It was the most direct U.S. military threat to Nigeria since independence. It came not only as an international rebuke but as a painful mirror the world no longer believes Nigeria is willing or able to protect its own people.
The Tinubu administration pushed back, insisting sovereignty must be respected.
“We welcome US assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity,” Daniel Bwala, an adviser to President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters.
President Tinubu also pushed back against the claims of religious intolerance and defended his administration’s
efforts to protect religious freedom.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into
consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all
Nigerians,” President Tinubu said in a statement.
A Nation Paying for Silence
Speaking exclusively to Pinnacle Daily, political analyst, Jide Ojo described the U.S. decision to redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” as largely political.
“For me, this move is political. When insurgency began, Christians were targeted churches and Christian communities were attacked. But over the years, this violence has become indiscriminate. Today, whether you are Christian or Muslim, no one is spared.”
He cited recent incidents, including the kidnapping of the Zamfara Deputy Speaker’s family, as proof that criminality, not religion, now drives most attacks.
Ojo also linked the decision to recent diplomatic friction. “Nigeria declined to take some refugees the U.S. wanted to transfer, and Washington was displeased with our Vice President’s comments at the UN calling Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. So this listing didn’t come from nowhere.”
However, he said the designation should still serve as a wake-up call. “This should push Nigerian leaders to deal decisively with terrorists and bandits so the world knows we are not condoning inhumanity.”
On steps forward, he urged better security funding, state policing, and stronger coordination not just changes in service chiefs. “Offering amnesty and taking photos with criminals sends the wrong signal. If government is not firm, these groups will continue to exploit the system.”
Ojo welcomed reports that President Tinubu is seeking a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, expressing hope diplomacy will ease tensions. “Restoring confidence requires action, not statements. We must show the world we are serious.”
“Nigeria’s Violence Has Gone Beyond Religion” — Barr. Monday Adjeh
Commenting on claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, senior lawyer Barr. Monday Adjeh said the issue must be understood in context. According to him, the United States likely relied on extensive intelligence and verified data before reaching its position.
“A country like America does not make such declarations casually. They operate with better data systems, technology, and intelligence networks. While Nigeria is still compiling figures, the U.S. probably already knows how many Nigerians have died in the last fifteen years.”
However, he cautioned against framing Nigeria’s security crisis purely along religious lines.
“At the early stages of Boko Haram’s insurgency, Christians were clearly targeted churches and Christian communities suffered terribly. But over time, these groups also turned their weapons on Muslims and even attacked mosques. That tells you this violence has gone beyond faith.”
Adjeh stressed that the current wave of insecurity affects everyone. “Today, criminals do not ask whether you are Christian or Muslim before they attack. Bandits, terrorists, kidnappers they target whoever they find. Crime in Nigeria has become indiscriminate.”
He added that while one faith group may have suffered more at certain points, the broader reality is clear “America may have data showing Christians were hit harder at some stages that’s possible. But fundamentally, crime does not respect religion. What Nigeria faces now is not just religious persecution; it is a general security crisis affecting all citizens.”
Nigeria’s Weak Link: Justice Denied, Security Compromised
Between 2015 and 2022:
- 20,395 terrorism deaths
- 41,000+ insecurity-related deaths overall
- 900 inmates freed in the Kuje prison attack, including 60 Boko Haram suspects
- Presidential guards ambushed near Abuja
- A terror cell threatened to kidnap the President
Nigeria is fighting multiple wars insurgency, banditry, economic sabotage, ethnic militancy and the battleground has reached the nation’s capital.
Yet the biggest war is invisible, the war within the state between justice and political protection.
The Real National Security Threat: Silence
Nigeria has embraced a controversial approach to counterterrorism: rehabilitating so-called “repentant” terrorists. Killers are offered reintegration programmes, public apologies, and even state-funded support while the families of their victims are left to mourn in silence, standing over empty graves with no justice, no closure, and no answers.
Whistleblowers are ignored, journalists face intimidation, and ordinary citizens are kept in the dark about decisions affecting national security.
Terror, in this sense, is not only about bullets or bombs. It is a system that allows violence to thrive in the shadows, where perpetrators are shielded by power and impunity. The innocent bury their dead. The guilty walk free. And the nation watches or looks away.
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The road ahead raises one defining question: will President Tinubu break the wall of secrecy shielding terror financiers? Nigeria stands at a historic crossroads where it must decide whether to expose those financing terror or risk losing global credibility forever, whether to deliver justice or invite foreign intervention, and whether to reform its security architecture or remain dangerously vulnerable
. The world is watching, victims are waiting, and history is recording every choice. The issue has never been whether Nigeria has the capacity to fight terrorism, the true question is whether it genuinely has the will to do so.
Esther Ososanya is an investigative journalist with Pinnacle Daily, reporting across health, business, environment, metro, Fct and crime. Known for her bold, empathetic storytelling, she uncovers hidden truths, challenges broken systems, and gives voice to overlooked Nigerians. Her work drives national conversations and demands accountability one powerful story at a time.
