A Lagos property identified by the United States government as the residence of an alleged Islamic State financial facilitator has been abandoned for years, a Sunday PUNCH investigation has found and neighbours say they have no knowledge of any suspicious activity in the area.
The building, located at No. 45, Abimbola Street, Morkaz, Agege, was named by the US Department of State as the home of Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, a Nigerian national accused of channelling funds for ISIS operations. When Sunday PUNCH visited the address, the dark cream-coloured bungalow — sandwiched between houses numbered 43 and 47 — was locked and showed clear signs of prolonged abandonment, with rusted door handles, tightly shut windows and iron doors partly sealed with concrete.
The visit came in the wake of Washington’s decision to impose sanctions on Muhammad and three Nigerian Bureau De Change firms — Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited and Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited — over alleged ties to an international ISIS financing network.
Residents of the predominantly Hausa neighbourhood, which sits close to the Markaz Islamic Centre in the Papa Ashafa area of Agege, expressed a mixture of shock and denial that their community had been drawn into a global terrorism financing investigation.
A 58-year-old food vendor who gave only her name as Hajia said she had lived at No. 44 for six years and had never encountered anyone by the name Mukhtar Muhammad. “I have never seen anything that would suggest criminal activities or terrorist operations here,” she said. “What surprised me the most is how America even knew Abimbola Street and the exact house number.”
Another resident, Alhaji Suleiman Tijani, described the street as peaceful and said the property had been vacant for a long time. “Sometimes people would come around to clean the place, stay a few days and leave, but they never did anything to raise suspicion,” he said. Tijani also noted that police patrol vehicles had made unusually frequent passes through the area since the US announcement, though no arrests were made and no residents were questioned.
A third resident, Auwal, said he initially dismissed news reports about the property as rumour. His main concern, he said, was that security operatives might cast a wide net and sweep up innocent people. Fashion designer Mrs Angela Nwoboku, however, said the community had remained entirely calm. “People go about their normal businesses peacefully,” she said, urging security agencies to carry out thorough investigations before drawing conclusions.
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy Gbenga Omotoso confirmed that the state government had no plans to demolish the property, noting that terrorism and national security matters were the preserve of federal agencies.
As of Saturday, neither the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission nor the Department of State Services had arrested Muhammad or any other person linked to the alleged network. A senior security source told Sunday PUNCH that investigations were at an advanced stage and that those involved were being actively tracked.
“Terrorism financing cases are very complex. The networks are global and have to be trailed to identify their local collaborators,” the source said, dismissing fears that suspects could slip away. “There is no hiding place. The world is a global village.”
EFCC sources separately disclosed that the commission had been probing Muhammad and the three BDC companies before Washington moved, and had been preparing charges when the US sanctions were announced. Officials said the investigation centred on terrorism financing, suspicious financial transactions and possible links to terrorist operations.
Corporate Affairs Commission records show that Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited was incorporated in Lagos in January 2019 but is currently listed as inactive. Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited, incorporated in March 2021, remains active, while Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, registered in January 2018, is also listed as inactive. Further checks identified Adamu Muhammad Mukhar and Chiroma Adamu as directors of all three companies.
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