•Tigran Gambaryan
Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has called on the leadership of the House of Representatives to investigate, urgently, allegations levelled against some lawmakers by the Head of Financial Crime Compliance at the cryptocurrency firm, Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.
Gambaryan alleged that three Nigerian lawmakers demanded a bribe of $150 million from him during his detention in Nigeria, reports The Guardian.
In a statement signed by HEDA’s chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the civil society organisation expressed deep concerns over the allegations, as they affected the integrity and credibility of the Nigerian legislative process.
HEDA said Gambaryan named Philip Agbese, Ginger Onwusibe and Peter Akpanke as the lawmakers involved.
According to Suraju, such serious accusations cannot be ignored or dismissed.
“It is imperative that the House of Representatives conducts a swift, transparent and unbiased investigation to ascertain the truth and hold any erring lawmakers accountable if found guilty.
“As an organisation committed to promoting transparency, accountability and the rule of law, HEDA believes the House of Representatives has a duty to uphold these principles. “The integrity of the entire assembly is at stake, and failure to address these allegations adequately will cast a shadow over the legislature’s commitment to good governance and anti-corruption efforts,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, asked the accused lawmakers to approach any United States of America court to clear their names.
HURIWA faulted the approach the federal government had adopted in handling the allegations by simply dismissing it with a mere wave of hand as was done by the Minister of Information and National Orientations.
The group insisted that those accused should 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.
“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 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 Minister of Information and National Orientations simply issuing a media statement and debunking the allegations.”
The Rights group, through the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the potential extensive damage to Nigeria’s global image by the allegations made by Mr Gambaryan on a social media platform was read around the world.
In another development, a former Bayelsa East Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, has said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, is incapable of bribery allegations levelled against him by Gambaryan.
Murray-Bruce stated that the Binance executive should be grateful for his release, as Ribadu could have ensured he remained imprisoned for life.
In a post on his X handle, Murray-Bruce wrote: “I have known Mallam Nuhu Ribadu my entire life, and I can say with absolute certainty that he is incapable of the allegations being levelled against him. I challenge @TigranGambaryan to undergo a lie detector test if he genuinely believes the claims he has made.
“It is exhausting to witness individuals repeatedly dragging Nigeria’s name through the mud with baseless accusations and fabricated evidence.”
