ABUJA — A fresh spotlight was cast on terrorism financing and security threats yesterday as the United States sanctioned a Lagos-based alleged ISIS financier, Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, and three bureaux de change linked to him over accusations of facilitating funds for the terrorist group.
The sanctions, announced under Executive Order 13224, form part of a broader action targeting ISIS financial networks operating across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.
Muhammad, 35, also known as Adamu Mukhtar and Muhammad Mukhtar, was identified as a key facilitator for ISIS-West Africa. He was listed with an address in Agege, Lagos State. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Muhammad allegedly served as a conduit for ISIS financing through bureaux de change operating in Lagos and Kano states.
The three businesses sanctioned alongside him are Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited and Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, both based in Lagos State, as well as Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited in Kano State.
Announcing the sanctions, U.S. State Department spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott said the measures were aimed at disrupting the terrorist group’s financial operations worldwide.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is dismantling ISIS’s ability to finance terrorism around the world. We are cutting off the financial lifelines that enable ISIS to fund attacks, support its regional affiliates, and threaten civilians, including religious minorities,” Pigott said.
The sanctioned individuals and entities have been added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list, a designation that freezes any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American individuals and organisations from conducting transactions with them.
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu said that combating terrorism, violent extremism, cybercrime, organised criminal networks, illicit financial flows, and foreign information manipulation requires collaboration among trusted international partners.
Speaking at the fourth UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership Dialogue, Ribadu noted that terrorist and criminal networks operating within Nigeria’s borders had been significantly degraded. He, however, cautioned that the threats remain dynamic, adaptive and increasingly technology-driven.
“Nigeria remains firmly committed to confronting these challenges through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach,” he said.
The United Kingdom’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, reiterated his country’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in addressing security challenges, disclosing that the UK currently has military personnel in Maiduguri supporting Nigerian forces.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, disclosed that Nigeria allocated about N5.4 trillion to security and defence in the 2026 budget as part of efforts to tackle terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other security challenges.
Also, troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed two suspected spies linked to ISWAP while attempting to infiltrate Nigeria from Cameroon through a border area in Borno State. The operation was reportedly carried out by troops of the 152 Battalion in Banki in collaboration with members of the Civilian Joint Task Force.