*It’s A Money-Spinning Business, He Says
By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Profiteers from the misery and death of others.
That was the claim of Borno-based cleric and activist, Rev. Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa, who alleged that some unidentified politicians in Borno State, elders and elites are complicit in prolonging the Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency because it has become a “money-spinning business.”
In a statement issued on 2 September, 2026, Dikwa, who is also the Director General (DG), Centre For Justice On Religious And Ethnicity In Nigeria, claimed that the conflict, which has reportedly cost thousands of lives and displaced many more, persists because of alleged economic benefits to both terrorist groups and their “conspirators” in the North-East state.
Rev. Dikwa alleged that some prominent persons involved in humanitarian interventions have used the gesture as cover to deceive the masses while maintaining links with terrorists.
He did not state, however, if he had availed security agencies of this information.
Rev. Dikwa, a Muslim converted to Christianity, fingered a former top official of Borno Muslim Elders Forum, accusing him of using “peace and humanitarian advocacy” as decoy when he worked with a renowned aid group involved in material and financial help to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
While being praised publicly for the good deeds, Dikwa alleged, the personality played “hidden roles” with terrorists. He did not give details.
The activist explained that Sambisa forest and border areas from his hometown of Dikwa to Jibbe and the Gamboru-Ngala axis of the state are rich in gum arabic and precious stones, maintaining that for over 10 years, most parts of these locations, now occupied by terrorists, have been turned into a “business hub” between the latter and some political elites “in and outside Borno State.”
He recalled personal experiences in the 1980s while operating as a trader in gum arabic in Sambisa forest, stressing that the location is suffused with the vital product whose financial proceeds, he said, are now the “very reason for the persistent money spinning Boko Haram insurgency” in the area.
The terrorists, he added, having extended their operations after being successfully financially empowered from the Borno axis, now trade “blood for gold and other mineral deposits.”
Dwelling generally on other developments in the axis, the cleric recalled the 2019 abduction of a Living Faith Church pastor and a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, alleging that after ransom was paid for his release, the pastor considered joining the terrorists’ cattle business before security agencies intervened and scuttled the plan.
Dikwa also claimed that some foreign humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and donor agencies are “headed by Muslims”, alleging that part of the funding meant for victims are funneled to terrorists to purchase arms, pointing to the earlier decision by US President Donald Trump to stop such funding as evidence.
Proffering a solution to the terrorist rampage in the North-East, Dikwa concluded that as long as the Federal Government fails to “take on” the alleged category of prominent people and bring them to account, the “man-made” insurgency and banditry in the region and across the country will not end.
“As long as the Federal Government is not willing to take on this category of people… the needless and the man-made insurgency and armed banditry in the North-East Zone and across the country will not end,” he stated.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Rev. Dikwa…pensive.
