The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) yesterday urged Nigerian lawmakers named in the alleged $150 million bribe scandal by Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, to approach a United States court to clear their names.
This follows Gambaryan’s insistence that his allegations—that three Nigerian lawmakers asked for a $150 million bribe to prevent his arrest and prosecution in Nigeria for alleged financial crimes—were true.
HURIWA recalled that Gambaryan made the allegations on his X handle on Friday, naming Ginger Onwusibe, Philip Agbese, and Peter Akpanke as the lawmakers. He claimed the legislators asked him to wire the funds to their cryptocurrency wallets. However, Onwusibe and Agbese have denied the allegations, threatening to seek redress in court.
In a post on X on Saturday, the Binance executive stated:
“Many requested that I stay on and provide further commentary on the issues I posted about yesterday. Here’s the hard truth: what I shared was meant to fill in the gaps left by Wired and NPR’s reporting.
“The reality is that last year was incredibly painful for me and my family. I dedicated my life to fighting crime as a Special Agent with the United States Department of the Treasury and as a compliance professional.
“It was an honour to serve my country, and it was a blessing that they came to my rescue and mobilised the full force of the U.S. government when I was in need.”
HURIWA faulted the approach the federal government has taken in handling the allegations, criticizing its decision to dismiss them outright, as done by the Minister of Information and National Orientation.
The group insisted that those accused of demanding bribes should institute a defamation case in Nigeria and be willing to present themselves in a U.S. court if Gambaryan files a suit there.
“We acknowledge the obvious fact that the legislators named by Mr. Gambaryan have strenuously denied their involvement in the bribery scam, and we don’t have contrary evidence to doubt them at this time. However, what the federal government should have done is empanel an independent investigative body within Nigeria to expeditiously probe the disturbing allegations and make their findings public, instead of the Minister of Information merely issuing a media statement to debunk the claims.”
The rights group, through its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, emphasized the potential damage the allegations could inflict on Nigeria’s global reputation.
“These allegations should have been confronted forensically by the Nigerian government instead of adopting the defensive tactic of dismissing them.
“Mr. Gambaryan claimed that his meeting with the legislators appeared to be recorded but alleged that it wasn’t. What we expected the House of Representatives to do was to debunk the allegations by publicly displaying any video recordings of their meeting with Mr. Gambaryan on both public and private television networks. This would serve as strong evidence to refute his claims. We demand that the House of Representatives counter these allegations with video evidence of the sittings held by the committee or subcommittee with Mr. Gambaryan.”
HURIWA further stated: “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 matter.
“The legislators and other officials accused of demanding bribes should immediately sue Mr. Gambaryan in a Nigerian court for defamation, but they must also be willing to appear physically in a U.S. court if summoned by the U.S. judiciary.”
