Victor Ezeja
Reactions have trailed the phone call made by the United States President, Joe Biden, to President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria that lasted for 30 minutes on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Tuggar, who briefed newsmen in Abuja about the phone call explained that Biden and Tinubu discussed the partnerships between both countries as well as the recent release of an American and Binance Executive, Tigran Gambaryan, who was detained and being tried in Nigeria for money laundering and currency speculations.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to Tuggar, Biden thanked Tinubu for the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies and the withdrawal of charges against Gambaryan.
In a post on his X handle on Tuesday night, President Biden said: “Earlier, I spoke with President Tinubu of Nigeria to express my condolences on the floods impacting his country and my appreciation for his leadership in securing the humanitarian release of Tigran Gambaryan. We also spoke about the value of our partnership.”
Gambaryan, who is the head of Financial Crimes Compliance at Binance, was held in custody in Nigeria for eight months over money laundering charges to the tune of $35.4 million and tax evasion. He was arrested in February during a business trip to Nigeria. He denied the charges. His case was compounded by the escape of his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, the former Africa Regional Manager for Binance, who was also taken into custody.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had announced last week that an Abuja Federal High Court has dropped the money laundering charges against Gambaryan, allowing him to seek medical treatment abroad.
The outcome, reportedly led President Joe Biden to call Tinubu on Tuesday to express his gratitude for the release of his citizen.
READ ALSO: Just In: Nigerian Govt Drops Money Laundering Charges Against Binance Executive Amid Health Concerns
The incident has elicited reactions from netizens. Some said Biden’s gesture reflects how US leaders care about their citizens, and that the phone call is a lesson to Nigerian leaders to always protect their citizens any where in the world.
Others criticised the withdrawal of the charges against Gambaryan by the Nigerian authorities over alleged America’s intervention.
An X user David @davsess wrote: “One thing @officialABAT should learn by Biden’s phone call about the Binance executive is,the live of a single American citizen is important to him as a president and he mustn’t allow any American citizen die like a chicken anywhere in the world. If Tinubu will learn that alone.”
“Tigran Gambaryan broke the laws of Nigeria which is causing the nation billion in dollars and wasn’t prosecuted because the almighty USA intervened in the Nigeria’s judiciary process, but the USA will enforce the extradition of criminals from Nigeria to USA to face prosecution,” another X user, Darl M.A. stated.
Obinna said: “While the U.S. got Nigeria to drop the charges brought against its citizens, the Binance Executive, Tigran Gambaryan, who made Nigeria lose billions of dollars, Nigeria has done nothing to protect Allen Onyema of Air Peace, the nation’s biggest airline, which is employing thousands of Nigerian citizens from an indictment that U.S. prosecutors admitted in a U.S. court in 2022, that Onyema never caused any bank or institution in America to lose money.”
“Tinubu should have asked the U.S. to drop the charges against his own citizen in the spirit of the MLAT signed by both countries. How can any Nigerian ever be proud of this country?” he asked.
