Tigran Gambaryan, a detained executive of Binance, has filed a lawsuit against the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA).
Gambaryan filed a lawsuit against the EFCC and Ribadu for allegedly violating his fundamental rights.
In the initial application, which was submitted on March 18 by his legal representative, Olujoke Aliyu, of Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, the executive of Binance requested five reliefs from Justice Inyang Ekwo.
Additionally, on March 22, Nadeem Anjarwalla, the regional manager for Binance Africa, broke free from legal custody and launched a separate right enforcement lawsuit before Justice Ekwo.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Gambaryan and Anjarwalla sued the Office of NSA (ONSA) and the EFCC as first and second respondents in the cases with the filing numbers FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24.
They both wanted the same kind of relaxation.
In his application, Gambaryan, a US citizen in charge of the crypto exchange platform’s financial crime compliance, requested a declaration that his arrest and the seizure of his passport for international travel violated Sections 35 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He claimed that the action amounted to a breach of his constitutionally protected fundamental right to personal liberty.
In addition, he requested a court order directing the respondents to immediately free him from detention and return his passport for foreign travel.
In addition, Gambaryan requested a permanent injunction prohibiting the respondents and their representatives from holding him any longer in connection with any inquiries made to Binance.
In addition to pleading for the respondents to publicly apologize to him, the official requested full indemnity for the costs incurred in this case.
In a statement in support of the lawsuit, he asserted that he is an American citizen who traveled to Nigeria on February 26 in company with Nadeem Anjarwalla, in order to accept the invitation from the ONSA and EFCC to talk about matters pertaining to Binance in Nigeria.
He provided an 11-point justification for the approval of his application, including his and his colleague Anjarwalla’s obedient attendance at the meeting.
He claimed that the responders had taken the two of them into custody following the meeting and that they had stayed there ever since.
He added that neither during the meeting nor at any other time was he personally told in writing of any offenses he had committed in Nigeria.
“The only reason for his detention is because the government is requesting information from Binance and making demands on the company,” he said, adding that he was not a member of the Board of Directors of Binance.
T.J. Krukrubo, SAN, appeared on Thursday when the two suits were called on behalf of Anjarwalla and Gambaryan.
Despite having been served two days prior, Krukrubo informed the court that the respondents were not represented in person.
But the senior attorney brought up the court’s attention to their March 26 notice of withdrawal of Anjarwalla’s legal counsel.
Although Krukrubo did not give details of why they were withdrawing their legal representation, this might not be unconnected to the disappearance of the applicant in custody.
Justice Ekwo said having withdrawn their legal representation, “it means that the applicant has no legal representation and requires that the matter be adjourned for the applicant to seek legal representation and for the respondents to be given an opportunity to come to court.”
The judge postponed the decision until April 8 in order to provide more time. Additionally, upon the resumption of the hearing in Gambaryan’s lawsuit, Krukrubo stated that even though ONSA and the EFCC had received process, they still had time to reply.
As a result, he requested an extension, stating that the respondent’s window of opportunity to submit their applications would close on Thursday of next week.
As a result, Justice Ekwo postponed the decision until April 8 to allow for additional discussion.
