N7bn: Sharia Council Dares EFCC To Name Sponsors of Terrorism

The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, SCSN, has dared the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to publish the identities of the religious organization responsible for terrorism in the country.

The Council was responding to the EFCC claim last week that N7 billion was traced to the account of a particular religious body out of the N30 billion the commission said was stolen from the country.

The Executive Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ola Olukoyede was quoted to have made the remark during a one-day dialogue tagged “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption.”

Olukoyede said “As I’m standing before you, there is a matter we are handling: a pyramid scheme that involves over N30billion fleeced from Nigerians.

“Along the line, some people died, some victims collapsed and all of that. We were able to trace over N7billion to a particular religious body, and I said, to write a letter to the leader of that religious sect, and we did.

“The next thing we saw was a restraining order. We got a restraining order restraining us from recovering the money. Meanwhile, people have died along the line. Money traced directly to your body, and that is what we are battling. Of course, we have appealed, and this is the situation that is facing us, religious leaders.”

Following the outburst that greeted the remark, the EFCC later said the religious organization was neither a church of mosque.

Reacting in a statement, the Sharia Council President and Secretary Sheik Abdularasheed Hadiyatullah , Malam Nafiu Baba Ahmad, said the gravity of the allegation was too serious for the EFCC not to mention the name of the religious body, adding that the alarm raised by the agency has created panic across the country.

The council, said: “The gravity of the situation calls for immediate public clarification of the group and decisive action to address the disturbing nexus between religious groups and Insurgency. Accordingly, we urgently call upon the EFCC to publish the list of all sponsors involved in criminal activities.”