Nigeria's Babafemi Charged with Aiding Yemen-Based al Qaeda Network

Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi. EFCC Photo

A five page indictment in federal court in Brooklyn Friday, September 27, 2013, has charged Lawal Olaniyi Babafemi with aiding Yemen-based al Qaeda network. According to the indictment, Babafemi assisted in AQAP’s English-language media operations, which include the publication of the propaganda magazine “Inspire." Babafemi was also given an equivalent in cash, the sum of $9,000 by Anwar al-Awlaki to recruit other English speakers from Nigeria to join that group and also received weapons training, the FBI said. Al-Awalki is the American cleric turned AQAP commander killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.