Washington has slapped sanctions on eight Nigerians for allegedly bankrolling Boko Haram and running cyber-scams. The move, announced Monday, freezes any assets they hold under U.S. control and bars Americans from doing business with them.
The Treasury Department’s 3,000-page designation list, posted 10 February by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), names the eight alongside dozens of other terrorism- and cyber-linked targets worldwide.
Key designees:
Salih Yusuf Adamu (a.k.a. Salihu Yusuf) – convicted in Dubai in 2022 for plotting to move $782,000 to Boko Haram.
– Babestan Oluwole Ademulero- also answered to Wole A. Babestan and Olatunde Irewole Shofeso.
– Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi (Ba Idrisa) and Abu Musab Al-Barnawi (Habib Yusuf) – described as senior Boko Haram figures.
– Khaled Al-Barnawi (Abu Hafsat, Mohammed Usman) – longtime militant.
– Ibrahim Ali Alhassan – based in Abu Dhabi; said to courier funds for the group.
– Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Mainuki (Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki) – linked to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
– Nnamdi Orson Benson – indicted for cyber-fraud operations.
All property under U.S. jurisdiction is now blocked, and any U.S. person who transacts with them risks civil or criminal penalties. The action falls under Executive Order 13224, the main U.S. tool for choking off terror financing.
The Treasury move comes days after U.S. lawmakers urged visa bans and asset freezes on Nigerian officials and groups accused of religious-freedom violations, including ex-Kano governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association.
Boko Haram, branded a foreign terrorist organization in 2013, has killed thousands across Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. Nigeria itself was returned to the State Department’s “Countries of Particular Concern” list in October 2025 over reported persecution of Christians, a label first applied in 2020 and briefly removed early in the Biden administration
