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Ndume calls for public trial of 400 BDC operators funding Boko Haram
By Modupe Shodeinde
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, has called on the Federal Government to expose the over 400 Bureau De Change operators arrested for allegedly funding the activities of Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
The Senator who made the call in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Sunday, also called for open trial of all the suspects.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, last month, had revealed that the Nigerian Government had arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating the transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.
He had said some Nigerians transferring money to the sect from the United Arab Emirates were working with the BDC operators.
According to Shehu, after the investigations, “the shocking details will surprise many Nigerians.”
It was gathered that suspects arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram, were being kept in military and DSS facilities in Abuja and other places.
Ndume emphasised that Nigerians deserve to know what the government was doing concerning the suspects.
He said, “The Presidency said recently that Nigerians would be shocked if it revealed the identities of those who are sponsoring the Boko Haram insurgents.
“Can you imagine that 400 Bureau De Change operators are the people funding the Boko Haram?
“When the BDC operators are arrested now, what will the government do with them. The presidency is already saying their case is confidential. What is confidential about it?
“The presidency should expose the identities of all the BDC operators so far arrested and carry out their trial in public.
“If any of them is innocent, he should be allowed to go while those found guilty must be made to face the music.
“When I was wrongly accused, I was tried publicly and I was vindicated. The trial lasted six years in an open court. If there is any criminal act linked to anybody. No matter how highly placed, let the evidence be placed before the public, there should be no secret trial.
“Nowadays, criminals are arrested and paraded without further action. Nobody knows what happens to the people who killed 11 soldiers in Benue State recently?
“What happened to those who beheaded policemen in Cross River State?
“If everyone is doing what he is supposed to do as defined by our constitution and laws, we would not have these problems. Citizens should expose suspicious movements.”
