•Terrorists
Finding No. 45, Abimbola Street, off Capitol Road in Lagos’ bustling Agege area was anything but straightforward.
House numbers appeared to have been assigned without any discernible order. Number 63 sat before 41, while another property bore 55, reports Sunday Vanguard.
Residents pointed in different directions whenever enquiries were made about the home of Alhaji Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, the Lagos businessman named, last week, by the United States (US) government in an alleged ISIS financing network.
The US government accused him of using bureau de change companies in Nigeria to facilitate money transfers for ISIS-West Africa.
The designation was announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, as part of a fresh counter-terrorism action by the Trump administration against individuals and businesses allegedly linked to ISIS financial networks across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.
According to Washington, three individuals and six entities were sanctioned for enabling ISIS to move funds across borders in support of its operations and regional affiliates.
The U.S. said the action was aimed at cutting off financial channels used by ISIS to plan attacks, sustain its affiliates and threaten civilians, including religious minorities.
The U.S. authorities alleged that Muhammad had conducted money transfers on behalf of ISIS-WA.
OFAC gave the address of the suspected Nigerian ISIS financier as No. 45, Abimbola Street, off Capitol Road, by Morcas, Agege, Lagos State.
He was listed as a Nigerian national born on August 2, 1990, with an alternative date of birth of August 3, 1990.
The U.S. also sanctioned three Nigeria-based money service businesses alleged to be owned, controlled or directed by Muhammad.
They are Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, located at Block 7, FAAN Complex, Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos; Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited, No. 59 Murtala Mohammad Way, Wapa, Kano; and Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, Lagos.
OFAC said Nine To Nine Exchange was established on August 22, 2017, with Registration Number RC 1462752, while Manhattan Bureau De Change was established on January 26, 2021, with Registration Number RC 1763824.
Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, according to OFAC, was established on January 9, 2019, with Registration Number RC 1555604.
Two other individuals were also named in the designations.
They are Abderrahmane Miloud, also known as Ghazi Ibrahim, a French national accused of conducting transactions with ISIS-linked persons and providing explosives-related information to ISIS supporters; and Abdelhakim Boukich, also known as Babili Muhammad, alleged to be an extremist financial facilitator based in Syria who controlled a Bitcoin exchange used for ISIS-linked transfers.
The U.S. Treasury said ISIS had increasingly relied on decentralised cells, regional affiliates and financial intermediaries following sustained counter-terrorism pressure.
The designation came weeks after the U.S. and Nigeria cooperated in the operation that led to the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described by Washington as the number two official in ISIS and head of its General Directorate of Provinces.
The U.S. said all property and interests in property of the designated persons and entities within U.S. jurisdiction are now blocked.
American citizens and entities are also generally prohibited from dealing with them.
The Treasury Department warned that financial institutions and other persons who conduct transactions with those sanctioned could also be exposed to penalties or secondary sanctions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said ISIS was still seeking new ways to finance attacks, adding that the United States would continue to use available tools to crush what remains of the group’s capabilities and protect American lives.
Failed attempts
After several failed attempts to locate No. 45, Abimbola Street, off Capitol Road, by Morcas, Agege, Lagos State, the address provided by OFAC as belonging to suspected terror financier Muhammad on Thursday, Google Maps eventually provided the breakthrough.
The satellite image matched a duplex tucked quietly along the tarred residential street where residents carried on with their daily routines, seemingly untouched by the international controversy surrounding one of their neighbours.
The quiet neighbourhood was the second stop by our correspondent while tracing the Lagos addresses linked to Muhammad.
Earlier, this reporter had visited the other address identified in the U.S. sanctions announcement, Block 7, FAAN Complex, Airport Road, Ikeja, linked to Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, and Muhammad allegedly operate.
Mystery
Instead of finding a bureau de change bearing that name, this reporter encountered a maze of offices occupied largely by logistics companies.
The FAAN Complex consists of about ten blocks secured by King David Security.
One security operative who escorted this reporter to Block 7 said he had never heard of Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited.
“We have many companies operating here, most of them are into logistics”, he said.
“There are about four bureau de change operators in this complex, but I have never heard of Nine To Nine”.
Another security officer gave a similar account.
“I have worked here for some time and that name doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe management would know better, but as far as I know, there is no company operating under that name.”
Attempts to speak with the chairman or administrator of the complex were unsuccessful as he had not resumed work when this reporter visited. Security personnel also said the head of King David Security was unavailable, while his contact details were not released.
Inside the complex, a female clerk working with one of the logistics firms said she had spent over one year there without ever coming across the company named in the U.S. sanctions.
“I have been working here for more than a year. I know many of the businesses because we interact almost every day. I have never heard of Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change,” she said.
Interestingly, Block 7 prominently bears the inscription ‘Zamfara State Government Temporary Lagos Liaison Office.’
A signboard mounted atop the building identifies it as the liaison office, while additional flex bearing Zamfara State Government Temporary Lagos Liaison Office covered the office’s sliding glass window.
A banner belonging to Turnkies Nig. Ltd also hangs inside the lobby, suggesting that more than one organisation may be operating within the building.
Inside the office, two workers, a man and a woman, however, insisted that the office did not belong to Zamfara State government.
“This place is for a construction company,” the male staffer said.
Asked to identify the company, both declined to provide its name or offer further explanations.
Throughout the visit, nobody interviewed admitted knowing either Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited or its alleged owner.
Neighbours speak
If the FAAN Complex presented an empty trail, the Agege residence offered something entirely different.
Residents readily identified Muhammad, popularly known in the area as Alhaji Adamu, as the owner of the duplex.
According to neighbours, he lives there with his family and also has a lawyer as tenant.
The lawyer was unavailable during this reporter’s visit, while neighbours said they had no telephone contact for him.
Although many residents were reluctant to discuss the matter, fearing possible repercussions, those who eventually agreed to speak described Muhammad in almost identical terms.
A man who identified himself as a police officer and resident of the street said the allegations came as a complete surprise.
“Honestly, I was shocked when I heard the news,” he said.
“Alhaji is a very quiet person. You hardly hear him raise his voice or get involved in any quarrel.
“He keeps to himself and mostly goes about his business.
“The only regular place you see him is when he goes to the mosque for prayers.”
Asked when he last saw him, the resident replied: “It was after the last Ramadan. Since then, we have not seen him around.
“What people have been saying here is that he is in the custody of the DSS and that the EFCC is investigating him, but I cannot confirm that.”
He added that nothing in Muhammad’s lifestyle suggested involvement in terrorism financing.
“If you ask me whether I ever suspected him of anything like this, my answer is no.
“There was absolutely nothing about him that gave such an impression.”
A young fruit seller whose stall stands close to Muhammad’s residence also struggled to believe the allegations.
“Alhaji is a good man. He doesn’t look for trouble. He greets people and minds his business. No, Alhaji cannot do something like this”, she said.
Another middle-aged resident dismissed the allegations outright.
“I believe the truth will eventually come out,” he said. “It may even be a setup. I have known him as someone who lives quietly with his family.
“It has been over a month since I last saw him.”
Virtually every resident interviewed described Muhammad as humble, peaceful and reserved. None claimed to have witnessed any unusual activity around the residence.
As of the time of filing this report, Nigerian authorities had not publicly announced criminal charges against Muhammad in relation to the U.S. allegations, while Sunday Vanguard could not independently verify claims by residents regarding his alleged detention or investigations by Nigerian security agencies.
For now, on Abimbola Street in Agege, the international allegations have left behind more questions than answers.
To neighbours who knew him only as a quiet family man and regular worshipper, the accusations remain difficult to reconcile with the man they believed they knew.
