EXCLUSIVE: Nigerian govt. freezes $37million worth of cryptocurrency traced to suspected protest organisers

The Nigerian government has frozen more than $37 million worth of cryptocurrency held in wallets believed to be owned by some organisers of #EndBadGovernance protesters.

The freezing followed an order by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The judge, Emeka Nwite, gave the order in a ruling delivered on 9 July, a copy of the decision seen by PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday shows.

Mr Nwite issued the order based on an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In the ex parte application filed on 8 August and heard by the court on the following day, the EFCC described the assets as proceeds of money laundering and terrorism financing.

There was no objection to the application during the hearing, which was an exchange of views between the judge and EFCC’s lawyer, O.S Ujam.

“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made freezing the wallet addresses/accounts stated in the schedule below, which wallets are owned by individuals currently being investigated for offences of money laundering and terrorism financing, pending the conclusion of the investigation,” Mr Nwite ruled shortly after listening to the applicant’s lawyer.

The wallet with the lion’s share of the assets has USDT 37 million (37,061,867,869.3) cryptocurrency, which equals the exact value in American US dollars.

The three other wallets each have USDT 967, USDT 90, USDT 443,512.37.

Identities not revealed

The agency did not reveal the identities of the wallet owners in its application.

However, insiders briefed about the case informed our reporter that the federal government traced them to suspected organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protests.

The anti-government protests against rising costs of living, economic hardship faced by millions of Nigerians and general governance issues in Nigeria were held across many parts of the country from 1 to 10 August.

Security forces have launched a crackdown on persons linked to the protests, appearing not to make any distinction between genuine protesters and persons who allegedly perpetrated crimes under the guise of the protests.

Security forces reportedly killed more than 20 protesters during the demonstrations. In Abuja, security forces fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters and journalists identified by their vests. The police have quizzed a Daily Trust TV journalist in a bid to arrest one of the protest organisers who appeared on one of the platform’s programmes.

The Nigerian government has equally been hard on those suspected to have committed crimes during the protests.

In Kano State and other places, the police have arrested and arraigned those suspected of looting businesses during the protests. Nigerian authorities have arrested seven Polish citizens over their suspected roles in the brandishing of Russian flags in Kano.

An affidavit filed in support of the application for the court order to freeze the cryptocurrency wallets said the assets “are owned by individuals currently being investigated for offences of money laundering and terrorism financing.” The affidavit was sworn to by an EFCC official, Jimada Yusuf.

Hearing

At the hearing of the application on 9 July, EFCC’s lawyer, Mr Ujam, urged the judge to order the freezing of the wallets “pending the conclusion of the investigation and prosecution.”

There was no objection to the application since it was an ex-parte hearing usually conducted without the adverse parties in attendance.

In cases where a legal process begins with an ex parte application, the adverse parties are not served until the court orders service of the outcome of the hearing and other filings.

“That the applicant’s application dated and filed on 8th day of August 2024 is granted as prayed,” The judge, Mr Nwite, ordered after listening to the lawyer.

Pattern of post-protest reaction

This is not the Nigerian government’s first of taking such measures against protest organisers.

In 2020, during the #EndSARS protests, the government blocked accounts linked to the campaigners, claiming the funds might be connected to terrorist activities.

The Punch Newspaper reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) froze 20 accounts and sought a court order to help freeze the accounts for an extended period of 90 days.

The CBN argued that the nature of the transactions in the accounts suggested links to terrorism financing.

The judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Ahmed Mohammed (now a Justice of the Court of Appeal), granted the application to block the accounts of persons linked to the protest for more than 90 days.

However, the judge vacated the freezing order after the legal teams of both the CBN and the 20 defendants decided to end the case for three months.

Among the accounts frozen were those belonging to key figures in the #EndSARS movement, including Bolatito Oduala and Bassey Israel, who was said to be the medical coordinator for the protests in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.