A federal court in Brooklyn, New York yesterday unsealed an indictment charging a 33 year old Nigerian, Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi aka ‘Abdullah’ and ‘Ayatollah Mustapha’ with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and using high-powered firearms in furtherance of that crime.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP by the US embassy in Abuja, yesterday, the charges were announced by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Loretta E. Lynch, John Carlin, acting assistant attorney general, National Security Division; and George Venizelos, assistant director-in-charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office.
According to court documents, between approximately January 2010 and August 2011, the defendant travelled twice from Nigeria to Yemen to meet and train with leaders of AQAP, the Yemen-based branch of al-Qaeda.
Babafemi was also accused of assisting in AQAP’s English-language media operations, which include the publication of the magazine “Inspire.”
At the direction of the now-deceased senior AQAP commander, Anwar al-Aulaqi, Babafemi was said to have been provided by AQAP leadership with the equivalent of almost $9,000 in cash to recruit other English-speakers from Nigeria to join that group. While in Yemen, he also received weapons training from AQAP.
The US is currently seeking the extradition of the defendant, Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi from Nigeria.
The statement recalled that at the request of the United States, the Nigerian government commenced extradition proceedings against the defendant in July 2013.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Zainab Ahmad and Hilary Jager, with assistance from Trial Attorney William M. Narus of the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section and Trial Attorney Timothy Hammer of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
United States Attorney Lynch, however, reiterated the continued cooperation and assistance of the government of Nigeria in terrorism matters affecting both nations.