Landlords, who let out their properties to terrorists stand the risk of spending nothing less than 20 years in jail, under the law guiding terrorism activities in Nigeria, the Federal government warned on Wednesday.
The law known as the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022, also makes individuals who host preparatory meetings with terrorist groups, a director in the Legal Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mijinyawa Zakari, stated in Abuja.
He told journalists that at the recently concluded 11th phase of the trial of terrorism suspects that the law criminalised several activities associated with terrorism, including preparatory offences and providing material or financial support to terrorist groups.
He said: “A careful reading of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022, will indicate that Sections 11 to 33 provide for a wide range of offences, including preparatory offences.
“The strategy is to ensure that there is dominance across all fields. When you talk about collaborators, you deal with what the investigation has revealed.
“For example, providing support to terrorism attracts a minimum sentence of 20 years. Renting your property to a terrorist is also an offence.
“You may not have a clear-cut act of terrorism or a harmful act, but all those actions, including holding a preparatory meeting with a terrorist group, constitute offences.”
Zakari, who urged Nigerians, particularly journalists and other stakeholders, to familiarise themselves with the provisions of the law to understand the range of activities classified as terrorism-related offences, warned companies against receiving funds linked to terrorism, saying they could face severe sanctions regardless of whether the money was eventually used to commit a terrorist offence.
Stating that a company found guilty of receiving terrorist financing could be fined N200 million, while its principal officers could face prosecution and the company itself could be wound up, added: “That is why there is a need for increased awareness of what constitutes a terrorist offence in Nigeria. Reading those sections will really help us.”