Prove No Demand Of $150m Bribe From Binance Head, HURIWA Challenges Rep Members
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged the House of Representatives and those indicted in a bribery allegation made by Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, to release the video of the sittings held by the house committee or subcommittee and Mr. Gambaryan to clear their names.
The group in a statement on Sunday which was signed by its National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko followed the shocking revelation that Cross River rep, Peter Akpanke, Benue rep, Philip Agbese and Abia rep Ginger Onwusibe, all demanded $150m to prevent his arrest and detention in Nigeria fo financial crime.
Gambaryan, who was incarcerated in Nigeria and was freed in 2024, had in a lengthy post on X/Twitter alleged that negotiation for the bribe involved Nigeria’s sweet police, “the DSS” which asked him and his side “to comply with whatever the House members instructed us to do.”
At the House meeting, he said “there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name.”
In a shocking revelation, he said, “They (Akpanke Agbese, others)
set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in.
“As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best,” he alleged.
He also indicated Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, whom he said “invited us to the official meeting and worked through Sa’ad Abubakar. Another key figure in this situation was Hamma Adama Belloji. Ogunjobi was just a pawn; they used him too,”
The embarrassing allegation has taken social media by storm. All those indicted have denied the allegation, with some revealing they have approached the court to clear their names but without stating which court and who they have sued.
HURIWA however faulted the approach the federal government has adopted in handling the allegations by simply dismissing it with a mere wave of hand. The group charged those indicted to institute a defamation case in Nigeria and must be willing to present themselves in a court in the USA should Gambaryan file a suit there and they are needed by the US court.
“We acknowledge the obvious fact that the legislators named as demanding bribes by Mr. Gambaryan have strenuously denied their involvement in the bribery scam and we don’t have any contrary evidence for now to doubt them.
“But what the federal government should have done is to empanel an independent investigative body within Nigeria to expeditiously probe the disturbing allegations and make their findings known to the public instead of the information and national orientations minister simply addressing a media statement and debunking the allegations”.
The Rights group said the potential extensive damage to Nigeria’s global image by the allegations made by Gambaryan in a social media platform read around the World should have been confronted forensically by the Nigerian government instead of adopting the defensive tactics of dismissing those allegations.
“Mr. Gambaryan made allegations narrating that his meeting with the legislators was made to look like it was recorded but alleged that it wasn’t recorded.
“What we expected the federal house of Representatives to do is to debunk the allegations by displaying for the viewing pleasure of Nigerians on both public and private televisions, any sort of video recordings of their meeting with Mr. Gambaryan in Nigeria.
“That way, such weighty evidence would totally stop Mr. Gambaryan from insisting on publicising his allegations against the Nigerian legislators.
“We are demanding that the federal house of Representatives should counter these allegations using video evidence of the sittings held by the house committee or subcommittee and Mr. Gambaryan.”
HURIWA said further: “Now that Mr. Gambaryan has repeated his allegations against these Nigerian officials, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order an independent investigation into the allegations.
“Then the legislators and other officials accused of demanding bribes should immediately sue Mr. Gambaryan in a Nigerian court for defamation but should be willing to appear physically in a court in the USA if invited by the US judiciary.”
Prove No Demand Of $150m Bribe From Binance Head, HURIWA Challenges Rep Members is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
