The United States has imposed sanctions on eight Nigerians accused of having links to Boko Haram, the Islamist armed group based in northeastern Nigeria, as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and cybercrime-related activity, freezing any assets or property connected to them under United States jurisdiction.
The names appeared in a 3,000-page sanctions publication dated Tuesday, February 10, 2026, issued by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and seen on Monday, February 16, 2026, at 10:44 in the morning West African Time (WAT, GMT+1). The document lists Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) and other people and entities whose property interests are blocked, and it also includes entries tied to cybercrime and other security threats.
The sanctions announcement came amid heightened debate in Washington about Nigeria’s security and religious freedom situation. United States lawmakers have recently recommended visa bans and asset freezes for people and groups accused of violating religious freedom and persecuting Christians in Nigeria. Those recommendations included Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former Governor of Kano State in northern Nigeria, as well as the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and Miyetti Allah Kautal.
The sanctioned Nigerians listed in the publication include Salih Yusuf Adamu, also known as Salihu Yusuf, who was born on Thursday, August 23, 1990, in Nigeria and was identified as having ties to Boko Haram. The document said he was reported to hold a Nigerian passport. It also referenced a case in which Yusuf was among six Nigerians convicted in 2022 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for setting up a Boko Haram cell to raise funds for insurgents in Nigeria. The six men were convicted in the UAE for attempting to send $782,000 from Dubai in the UAE to Nigeria.
Another person listed was Babestan Oluwole Ademulero, born on Wednesday, March 4, 1953, in Nigeria, who appeared under several aliases, including Wole A. Babestan and Olatunde Irewole Shofeso, and was designated under SDNTK sanctions.
Also listed was Abu Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Barnawi, also known as Ba Idrisa, who was reportedly born between 1989 and 1994 in Maiduguri in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, and was flagged under terrorism-related sanctions. A second Al-Barnawi entry was Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, also referred to as Habib Yusuf, with a birth year listed as between 1990 and 1995, and identified as a Boko Haram leader.
Khaled, also spelled Khalid, Al-Barnawi appeared twice in the publication. He was born in 1976 in Maiduguri, Nigeria, linked to Boko Haram, and listed under several aliases, including Abu Hafsat and Mohammed Usman.
The list also included Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, born on Saturday, January 31, 1981, in Nigeria, who was reported to reside in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and was linked to Boko Haram. Another entry was Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Mainuki, also known as Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, who was born in 1982 in Mainok, Borno State, and identified as having ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The eighth Nigerian named was Nnamdi Orson Benson, born on Saturday, March 21, 1987, in Nigeria, who was listed under CYBER2 sanctions and was reported to hold a Nigerian passport.
Under OFAC rules, the sanctions block property and interests of the listed people within United States jurisdiction, and United States persons are generally prohibited from transactions involving them. The document also referenced Executive Order 13224 as the basis for the asset freezes tied to terrorism designations.
The United States designated Boko Haram a foreign terrorist organisation in 2013, and the United States Department of State has linked the group to attacks in northern and northeastern Nigeria and across the Lake Chad Basin region, including parts of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, that have killed thousands of people since 2009.
The document further noted that the United States Secretary of State determines countries that have repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, with designations made under laws including the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, the Arms Export Control Act, and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
In October 2025, United States President Donald Trump announced that Nigeria would be added again to the United States Department of State list of “Countries of Particular Concern,” saying in a post on X that Christians were being persecuted and killed by Muslims. Nigeria was first placed on the list in 2020 under Trump, and the designation was later removed after former President Joe Biden took office.