The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered the immediate freezing of accounts belonging to six individuals and four Bureau de Change operators allegedly linked to one of West Africa’s most dangerous terrorist organizations.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, in a circular dated June 24, 2026, directed all banks, payment service banks, and financial institutions under its regulatory supervision to freeze without prior notice all funds, assets, and economic resources connected to the designated individuals and entities. The directive took immediate effect.
At the center of the crackdown is Mukhtar Muhammad, a Lagos-based Bureau de Change operator whom the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has accused of facilitating financial transactions on behalf of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the West African affiliate of the global Islamic State terrorist network, known for its deadly insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin region.
Muhammad, also identified in official documents as Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, is alleged to have exploited the relatively porous bureau de change industry to move funds that ultimately bankrolled terrorist activities.
He is among six individuals added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List, alongside Babangida Muhammed Adamu Hammajam, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Ibrahim Abubakar, Adamu Chiroma, and Yakubu Ogirima Ibrahim.
Four Bureau de Change firms, Generation Currency Bureau de Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau de Change Limited, Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau de Change Limited, and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau de Change Limited, have also been designated as entities owned or controlled by the sanctioned individuals.
What makes this regulatory action particularly significant is its dual origin. The directive stems from a coordination of sanctions issued both by Nigeria’s own Nigeria Sanctions Committee (NIGSAC) and by OFAC under Executive Order 13224, an American executive order that has long served as one of Washington’s primary legal tools in the global fight against terrorism financing.
The involvement of OFAC signals that this is not merely a domestic regulatory matter. It reflects the deepening collaboration between Nigerian and American authorities on counterterrorism financing and suggests that intelligence sharing between both governments played a role in identifying the network now being dismantled.
The CBN’s directive leaves little room for hesitation. Financial institutions have been given a strict 48-hour window to submit compliance reports detailing all affected accounts, the amounts frozen, match findings, and actions taken.
Institutions that find no matches among their customers are still required to submit nil returns, a provision designed to ensure that no institution can simply claim ignorance and opt out.
Beyond the immediate freeze, banks are required to screen all existing customers, beneficial owners, and incoming and outgoing transactions against the updated sanctions list, including known aliases.
They must also conduct retrospective reviews of past transactions involving the listed individuals and entities, a measure that could potentially expose a wider web of associates and financial flows not yet on the radar of regulators.
Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) must be filed immediately with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) upon identification of any match.
The CBN’s intervention is the latest chapter in Nigeria’s prolonged struggle with the financing of terrorism through formal and semi-formal financial channels. Bureau de change operators have long occupied a grey zone in Nigeria’s financial system, legitimate on paper, yet historically difficult to fully supervise. Their role in facilitating cross-border currency exchanges makes them attractive vehicles for those seeking to move money with minimal scrutiny.
The scale of the problem is not new to Nigerian authorities. During the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, security agencies arrested 96 suspects and 424 associates in terrorism financing probes, with more than 100 companies and 33 BDC operators reportedly linked to such activities. The latest designations suggest that, despite those earlier efforts, significant networks remain operational.
The CBN has made clear that the stakes for non-compliance are high. Institutions that provide false or misleading information face sanctions under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Nigeria’s principal banking regulatory legislation. Compliance will be monitored through a combination of off-site reviews, on-site examinations, and direct supervisory engagements.
For the financial institutions now scrambling to comply, the message from Abuja is unambiguous: the era of passive compliance in the fight against terrorism financing is over.
Whether this latest directive succeeds in cutting off funding to ISWAP, an organization that has proven resilient in the face of sustained military pressure, remains to be seen. But regulators, at least, are no longer treating the Bureau de Change sector as an afterthought.
The CBN directive is contained in circular reference CMD/FCS/PUB/CIR/002/011, dated June 24, 2026, with effect from the updated Nigeria Sanctions List of June 18, 2026.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Nigeria’s financial regulators have drawn a hard line against terrorism financing, ordering the immediate freeze of accounts linked to six individuals and four bureau de change operators allegedly funneling money to ISWAP.
The action coordinated between Nigeria’s own sanctions committee and the United States Treasury targets what authorities say is a deliberate exploitation of the country’s currency exchange sector to bankroll terrorism. Banks have 48 hours to comply or face consequences under BOFIA 2020.
