Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed all capital market operators to immediately freeze funds and assets connected to six individuals and three companies that the country's Sanctions Committee has flagged as terrorism financiers.
The directive, published in a circular on August 12, requires Capital Market Regulated Entities to act without prior notice and to report any frozen assets to the Sanctions Committee afterwards.
Who Was Named in the SEC Directive
The six individuals are Babangida Muhammed Adamu Hammajam, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Ibrahim Abubakar, Adamu Chiroma, Muktar Muhammad Adamu and Yakubu Ogirima Ibrahim. The three entities are Nine to Nine BDC Ltd, Generation Currency BDC Ltd and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau de Change.
The Sanctions Committee placed the individuals on its list in June under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act of 2022. The charges relate to alleged terrorism financing, material support for terrorist groups and financial transactions connected to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Punch reports.
Hammajam was designated on June 18 for alleged financing and direct support of ISWAP, while Usman was listed for repeatedly sending funds to the group. Abubakar faces allegations of both financing and membership of ISWAP. Chiroma is accused of using bureau de change operations and related businesses to move money on behalf of the group.
Details of Allegations and Designations
Muktar Adamu, designated on June 15, is alleged to have provided financial support and helped move funds for the ISWAP Okene cell, while Ibrahim is accused of supplying financial and material support to the group's Kogi cell. The three bureau de change companies were listed for allegedly channelling money through the same ISWAP Okene financing network.
The designations were made under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act of 2022, which provides the legal framework for freezing assets and imposing sanctions on individuals and entities linked to terrorism.
What Operators Must Now Do
Beyond freezing assets, the SEC ordered operators to file suspicious transaction reports with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. Operators must flag any name matches in financial transactions as suspicious, regardless of whether those transactions took place before or after the sanctions list reached them.
Continuous monitoring of any dealings connected to the named individuals and companies is also compulsory, and operators are prohibited from conducting business with any of them.
Tribune reports that the SEC warned that non-compliance would be treated as a breach of the Investments and Securities Act 2025 and the commission's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations. Penalties include fines, suspension and outright licence revocation.
Impact and Previous Sanctions
This latest directive follows an earlier round of sanctions in which the SEC subjected 10 individuals and three entities to similar asset-freezing measures as part of Nigeria's broader push to shut terrorism financing out of the formal financial system.
Meanwhile, at the trading floor of the Nigerian Exchange, earlier, Legit.ng reported that the market closed negatively for the second consecutive session on Thursday, August 26. Data showed that the market downturn was driven by profit-taking in banking, consumer goods, industrial, and oil & gas stocks, despite mild gains recorded in the insurance sector.
The market's year-to-date return has dropped to 35.56% while the week's return after 4 days of trading is in the red zone at –0.32%.
