A once‑celebrated counter‑terrorism operation approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari has resurfaced in controversy after retired Army General, Ali‑Keffi, claimed the wide‑ranging 2021 probe was deliberately shut down to shield powerful individuals implicated in terror financing.
Ali‑Keffi, who once commanded the 1 Division and served as General Officer Commanding (GOC), was appointed in 2021 to lead Operation Service Wide (OSW), a multi‑agency task force mandated to unmask the masterminds and financiers behind Boko Haram and dismantle their networks.
According to Ali‑Keffi, the investigation went far deeper than anticipated, uncovering a sprawling network of financiers allegedly linked to senior government officials, influential military officers, and top financial institutions.
Documents obtained by Sahara Reporters verified that OSW, working with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), arrested several high‑profile suspects in March 2021, tracing money flows tied to terror financing.
The findings were reportedly submitted to former President Buhari in September 2021. Ali‑Keffi claims the then Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya (retd.), was briefed, a revelation that later linked him in some capacity to persons arrested under OSW.
Barely a month after the submission, Ali‑Keffi said he was summoned to the Headquarters of Military Police on October 18, 2021, interrogated, and detained for 64 days, without charge, trial, or formal explanation.
“Till today, I don’t know my offence,” he said, claiming the detention and forced retirement were coordinated to halt the investigation.
Frustrated by the lack of redress, he said he petitioned President Bola Tinubu after the president’s election but received no response, prompting him to file a lawsuit at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
He alleged court processes were never served on the Army, and his lawyer suspects foul play.
Powerful Individuals Allegedly Linked To Suspects
General Ali-Keffi insists that his comments are not based on anonymous sources but on what he was personally told by the then-Director/CEO of the NFIU, Modibbo Hamman-Tukur Ribadu, who worked directly with OSW.
According to him, two suspects arrested by OSW were linked to the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd).
Also, two other suspects were linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), while one suspect was linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele. Gen. Faruk Yahaya (rtd) was linked to one suspect.
Ali-Keffi clarified, “I am not accusing Buratai, Malami, or Emefiele of terrorism financing.
“But I was informed by the former NFIU Director that investigations linked them to some of the suspects. I don’t know if they were later cleared but up to the time that I was arrested, detained, compulsorily retired and taken off the OSW, they were linked to some of the suspects.”
He also revealed that Buratai reportedly asked the then-NFIU boss to “prevail on me to release two suspects.” Ali-Keffi said he refused and instead informed Buhari directly, without naming Buratai.
According to Ali-Keffi, Buhari reacted angrily, telling him, “You report to me and to me alone.”
He further clarified that none of the influential individuals were directly found to be involved in terrorism.
He said, “Let me state again that the former Director of NFIU told me that Gen. Buratai, Malami, Emefiele and Gen. Yahaya respectively were linked to some of the suspects based on business connections.
“Note that a lot of the suspects were engaged in legitimate business, which was Bureau De Change which however, we suspected were ‘cover’ for their other nefarious activity, which was, terrorism financing.
“Throughout the time that I headed the OSW, we did not establish that Gen. Buratai, Emefiele, Malami and Gen. Yahaya, were linked with terrorism financing or knew that the suspects that they were linked with were involved in terrorism financing.”
$600Million Offshore Account And Attempted $50Million Bribe
One of the international suspects, Aboubacar Hima, was found to own an offshore account containing about $600 million, which the OSW traced through the NFIU. The Nigerian team alerted the United States, which subsequently froze the account.
Ali-Keffi said the then-NFIU boss later told him that someone acting on behalf of Hima offered $50 million to Nigeria to inform the US that it had no issues with the funds, effectively unfreezing the account. Ali-Keffi said he rejected the offer.
Upon his release from detention, he was informed that the Nigerian government eventually wrote to the US requesting that the account be unfrozen.
According to him, Buhari told the NFIU boss to reconcile with Malami over their differences.
Ali-Keffi Speaks On Efforts To Derail The Investigation
Ali-Keffi stated that the OSW had gathered extensive evidence for terrorism-financing charges against 48 suspects in custody.
However, he said he faced persistent pressure to downgrade the charges to money laundering, something he believed was designed to divert the case to the EFCC, which at the time was under the influence of Malami and chaired by Abdulrasheed Bawa, Malami’s relative.
He alleged that a top prosecution lawyer assisting OSW was removed without explanation after refusing to compromise her stance that terrorism-financing charges were warranted.
The AGF’s office failed to obtain necessary court orders for asset forfeiture and instead applied only for detention orders.
According to him, the presidency and powerful officials “wanted to kill the investigation.”
He said, “After my release from detention, I was told by Hamman-Tukur Ribadu that the Nigerian Government wrote to the US to unfreeze the account.
“Let me state that in the course of the investigation, sometime in August or September 2021, Abubakar removed one of the top prosecution lawyers who was assisting the OSW to build up the case without any explanation to me. I later learned that she refused to compromise her stance, which was that we (OSW) had sufficient evidence to present in court on charges of terrorism financing against all the 48 suspects that were in OSW custody.
“I recall that I stated in my letter of redress that pressure was being mounted on me to build a case of money laundering against the individuals and not terrorism financing.
“I suspected that the powers-that-be at the time wanted the case to be transferred to the EFCC, which is under the control of the Attorney General. The Chairman at the time was Mr Bawa, a relative of Malami.
“They wanted to ‘kill’ the investigation but my insistence and that of the lady from the AGF office, who was removed, made the Presidency to go after me by getting the Army to come up with trumped-up allegations against me.”
Release Of The Suspects After His Removal
Following Ali-Keffi’s removal, detention, and compulsory retirement, OSW was effectively halted. He revealed that the suspects arrested by OSW were eventually released.
None of the 20 top suspects, nor any of the others arrested, were ever charged in court. The suspects were allegedly warned not to speak to the media or take legal action over their nine-month detention.
He said these details were confirmed to him by an insider.
“I understand that the 20 suspects were never charged or taken to court. They were all released. I was made to understand from an insider that they (the suspects before they were released) were warned not to go to the media, or to go to the court as a result of their detention for over nine months. NFIU was pressured to drop the accusation of terrorism financing,” he said.
List Of Over 400 Targets, Including Boko Haram Leader, Shekau
Perhaps the most explosive detail came from Ali-Keffi’s disclosure that OSW had a list of over 400 individuals to be arrested or eliminated.
The list included the late Boko Haram’s most notorious commander, Abubakar Shekau.
He said, “Some of the 20 top suspects are part of the 48 that the OSW arrested.
“We had a list of suspects to be arrested or eliminated containing over 400 individuals. Shekau was in the list. Of course, we couldn’t arrest Shekau and so we ’engineered’ what happened to him.”
Ali-Keffi insists that the NFIU, EFCC, and the Office of the Attorney-General are in the best position to explain whether the funds traced to the terror sponsor suspects were recovered or released.
The former GOC maintains that his ordeal, including arrest, detention, and forced retirement, was a direct result of resisting attempts to obstruct a terrorism-financing investigation that touched some of Nigeria’s most powerful individuals.
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