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HOW NIGERIA USED FINANCE AS SCAPEGOAT FOR TINUBU’S POLICY FAILURE — GAMBARYAN
Head of Finance and Compliance at Binance in the United States, Tigran Gambaryan, said the Nigerian government used the cryptocurrency platform as a scapegoat for the repercussions of President Bola Tinubu’s Naira devaluation policy.
Gambaryan disclosed this in a lengthy statement on his official X account on Friday, titled ‘Some Unknown Facts’.
Reflecting on his experience under the Nigerian government’s custody in 2024, the Binance executive, Gambaryan, narrated how the firm, he and Nadeem Anjarwalla faced untold tribulations.
According to him, while Binance was accused by the Nigerian government of manipulating the price of the Naira in the foreign exchange market, the reality was that the Naira’s devaluation at that time was a direct result of Tinubu’s monetary policy, which led to the country’s currency depreciating against the US dollar.
He stressed that the floating of the Naira in June 2023 was the reason the Naira depreciated, not Binance.
“They tried to use us to violate international privacy laws by demanding user data on all Nigerians to target opposition members allegedly “manipulating the price of the naira”.
“However, they all knew that the naira’s devaluation was a direct result of Bola Tinubu’s monetary policy, which depegged the naira from the dollar. I’m not saying this policy decision was wrong, but everyone understood that removing government intervention would lead to extreme devaluation. Instead of acknowledging this, they used Binance as a scapegoat,” he wrote.
Gambaryan accused Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, of seeking a bribe to fund his political ambition.
Similarly, the Binance executive alleged that some Nigerian lawmaker had demanded a $150 million bribe.
Recall that Gambaryan and his Anjarwalla were detained on arrival on February 26, 2024, by the Nigerian government.
While Anjarwalla escaped from custody, Gambaryan was kept in detention until he was charged in court for financial crime.
This came after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, raised the alarm that $26 billion was funnelled through Binance without a trace.
Consequently, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, arraigned Binance, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla on 5 counts of money laundering and financial crime.
However, months after the battle between the Nigerian government and Binance, the former dropped charges against Gambaryan and his firm. The court in October 2024 ordered the release of Gambaryan.
