Retired Major General Danjuma Ali-Keffi has claimed that several terror suspects arrested during a 2021 counterterrorism operation were linked to high-ranking Nigerian officials, including former Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN), former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd.), former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, and former Army Chief Gen. Faruk Yahaya (rtd.).
Ali-Keffi made the allegations while recounting his role as head of Operation Service Wide (OSW), a multi-agency task force approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari to identify Boko Haram financiers and disrupt their networks. He said the operation uncovered extensive financial links between arrested suspects and influential figures in government, the military, and financial institutions.
According to him, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) provided intelligence that led to the arrest of several suspects in March 2021, with the findings formally presented to Buhari in September of that year. Shortly afterward, Ali-Keffi said he was detained for 64 days without trial and later compulsorily retired, which he believes was an attempt to stop the investigation.
He claimed that two suspects were linked to Buratai, two to Malami, one to Emefiele, and another to Yahaya. However, he clarified that investigators did not establish that any of the officials were involved in terrorism financing, but that the suspects had business relationships with them, mostly through Bureau De Change operations.
Ali-Keffi also alleged that Buratai sought the release of two suspects and that attempts were made to downgrade terrorism-financing charges to money laundering, a move he said was intended to transfer the case to the EFCC, then under Malami’s influence.
He further disclosed that the OSW uncovered an offshore account with about $600 million linked to an international suspect, Aboubacar Hima, which was later frozen by U.S. authorities. He claimed he rejected a $50 million offer intended to reverse the freeze.
Following his removal from the operation, he said all 20 top suspects arrested were released without trial and were reportedly warned against speaking publicly about their detention.
Ali-Keffi added that OSW had compiled a list of more than 400 targets connected to Boko Haram, including the late insurgent leader Abubakar Shekau.
The retired general has petitioned President Bola Tinubu and filed a case at the National Industrial Court, alleging wrongful detention and forced retirement, though he claims the matter has not progressed in court.
He maintains that his ordeal stemmed from resisting efforts to derail a terrorism-financing investigation that implicated powerful individuals.
