By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja
Nigeria – No fewer than 259 Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, under the aegis of the Coalition for Transparency and Economic Reforms (COTER), have urged Nigerians to disregard the “wild claims and allegations” of corruption levelled against some lawmakers, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan.
The CSOs declared that the American should not be taken seriously as he’s working in collaboration with some disgruntled Nigerian politicians and their foreign collaborators to cause chaos and destabilise the country.
The Coalition, which stated this in a statement in Abuja, warned of secret plans by Binance to “surreptitiously cause chaos in Nigeria through these false allegations,” adding, “The company’s major aim and objective is to sabotage and destabilise Nigeria.”.
According to COTER, Gambaryan’s bribery allegations were aimed at instigating widespread hatred for Ribadu, the security agencies and ultimately the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Recall that Gambaryan, who was detained for eight months in Nigeria over alleged corruption, had in a post on X on Friday, raised the allegations of bribery against the Nigerian officials and security agencies. But he failed to provide any evidence to support his claims.
In another post on X on Saturday, Gambaryan again reiterated his corruption allegations against the Nigerian officials and security agencies.
However, COTER’s statement jointly signed by its President, Dr Peter Chima Chukwu and General Secretary, Mallam Auta Ibrahim Koko, described Gambaryan’s allegations against the three lawmakers, the NSA, the DSS and the EFCC as “unfounded and unsubstantiated,” saying the Binance executive and his collaborators “meant much more than just the corruption allegations.
“Their major objective is to cause chaos and ultimately destabilise the country,” it added.
COTER noted that nothing but blatant and unsubstantiated lies should be expected from a discredited financial company like Binance, a firm that has been banned and heavily fined by courts in many countries across the world for various illegalities, gross infractions and financial crimes perpetrated through its notorious operations.
The coalition’s statement partly reads, “That we’re appalled by the unfounded gargantuan allegations levelled against the three Nigerian lawmakers, the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the shameless and unscrupulous Binance executive, Gambaryan, is, to say the least, an understatement. Of course, the Nigerian government and the three lawmakers mentioned by Gambaryan have swiftly denied the allegations as baseless and false.
“Also, the two Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigators mentioned by Gambaryan – Saad Abubakar and Bello Hamma-Adama – we’ve discovered, were uncompromising and very professional in their conduct throughout their investigation of the Binance officials, contrary to the wild allegations now made against them.
‘In fact, the two EFCC officers were very thorough and effective in detecting all the infractions, vices and financial crimes perpetrated by Binance against Nigeria.
“Mentioning NSA Ribadu as part of the bribery allegation has also been found to be a figment of the infantine imagination of Binance and Gambaryan. “The NSA, it has been found out, had no direct contact with Binance and Gambaryan before and throughout the period of his detention in Nigeria.
“So, his claim that Ribadu needed money to prosecute an election during that period is hollow and doesn’t have any iota of truth.
‘There was infact no any election ahead for Ribadu or anyone to contest during that period. So, this allegation is unfounded, a blatant lie by Gambaryan”, the CSOs declared.
COTER noted that Binance and Gambaryan made the bribery allegations because they “are still smarting from their ban from operating their dubious and discredited business in the country due to its misadventures, which constituted economic crimes and sabotage against the country.”
The coalition drew the attention of Nigerians to the illegal activities of Binance across the world, which has earned the company ban and fines running to billions to dollars in different countries of the world.
It accused Binance of colluding with some disgruntled and unpatriotic Nigerians as well as their foreign collaborators to undermine the administration of President Tinubu by sponsoring economic and financial terrorist activities as represented by Binance’s illegal activities in the country.
The coalition therefore challenged Binance and Gambaryan to prove their corruption allegations against Nigeria, failure of which the government should not hesitate to activate appropriate diplomatic actions for redress.
COTER also called on the government to identify the Nigerian collaborators of Binance for prosecution.
The coalition said, “COTER hereby calls on the Federal Government to immediately launch comprehensive investigations to uncover the identities of the Nigerian citizens working in collaboration with Binance for appropriate punishment.
“We believe that the various security agencies should be given the clearance and authorisation to perform their constitutional duty of investigating, arresting and questioning all those suspected of colluding with Binance to tarnish Nigeria’s image, no matter how highly placed they may be. If found wanting, they must be punished appropriately”, they said.
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