Retired Army General links NASCO’s founder to terrorism financing

Godwin Alabi-Isama, a retired army general has connected Ahmed Nasreddin, the founder of NASCO Group to terrorism financing in the country.

In an interview with TVC monitored by BusinessDay, the retired general said he learned about Ahmed Nasreddin and his role as a sponsor of the peaceful Izala movement during his time as an instructor at the military school in Jos.

“Ambassador Wali wrote a letter to the chairman of the United Nations Counter Insurgency about Ahmed Nasreddin in Jos when I was an instructor at the military school in Jos. All students of military school went to training at Naraguta in Jos, I took them there, so we knew NASCO,” Alabi-Isama said.

Who is Godwin Alabi-Isama?

Brigadier-General Godwin Alabi-Isama (retd.) was the Chief of Staff of the famous 3rd Marine Commando during the Nigerian Civil War. He was the chief of staff to the late General Adekunle who headed the Commando unit.

General Isama authored a book titled the tragic tragedy of victory in which he related his own account of the Civil War, an important event in Nigeria’s history.

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How NASCO’s founder, Nasreddin, helped start a war – Isama

“We knew Baba NASCO ever since,” the war veteran said.

“It is true that he made a lot of money in Nigeria, but he was financing a peaceful Islamic group called Izala. Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’Ikamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) is another name for it.

“But by the time they (Izala movement) got involved with the Algerian group, which is called GSPC. They were now saying pamphlet alone is not enough to spread Islam, it has to be pamphlet and conflicts and that was how Izala movement got to where they are now.”

Isama added that “Baba Nasreddin was funding the Izala movement until he died in May last year at the age of 96.”

What you need to know about GSPC

David Hundeyin, a Nigerian journalist, wrote an investigative report called “Cornflakes for Jihad: the Boko Haram Origin Story.” It revealed information about GSPC.

In the report, the name of the group called ‘GSPC’ is “Grupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat” (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat). It is an illegal Salafi terrorist group that is based in Algeria and is linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It provides training, money, and support to Islamists and jihadi fighters all over the world through a huge network of smugglers, money launderers, and rat lines across the world.

In October 2021, Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin wrote a report called “Cornflakes for Jihad: the Boko Haram Origin Story.” It revealed how Nasreddin (the founder of NASCO) and Yakubu Musa Kafanchan, a friend of Nigeria’s terror-linked Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, funded Islamic terror groups.

People like Kabiru Sokoto, who led the bombing of a Roman Catholic church in Madalla, Niger State, on Christmas Day in 2011, that killed 37 people, are said to have been funded by Nasreddin and his allies in the West African Weekly report.

There were also rumors that NASCO’s late founder had secretly funded terrorism while being close to the government in Nigeria.

NASCO’s position

The management of NASCO group in Nigeria or anywhere else.

In the one-page statement, NASCO’s management called out “defamatory and slanderous content” that had been spread on online platforms. They said that the assets of the NASCO group and its late founder were used to help terrorist groups in Nigeria and other places.

Thousands of people and businesses around the world were investigated after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The company said this in the statement.

An investigation by the United Nations security council and the US government found that the late founder of NASCO, Dr. Ahmed Nasreddin, and his business interests were completely free of all false accusations.

There’s no doubt that NASCO wasn’t involved in any way with the sponsorship of terrorism anywhere in the world, says NASCO.

However, the management of NASCO did not say why it didn’t tell the Nigerian public that the company and its late founder had been investigated and cleared of the very bad things that were said in a United Nations security council resolution that was passed on January 17, 2008.

National Intelligence Agency of Nigeria did a similar search and found the same thing, “exonerating our late founder and the NASCO group from any involvement in terrorist activities in Nigeria, as well as any other country.”

We can solve insecurity in Nigeria peacefully – Alabi-Isama

The Civil war veteran said that “people who are agitating either as protesters or bandits or terrorists have a pain. We need to find out what is your pain and unless we know what is their pain, solving the problem is difficult”.

Another thing the retired general said: “You don’t have to shoot anyone in order to get results, but we have let this thing grow and now we have to deal with it. This is now the time to listen to the bandits.”