CBN Asks Court Not to Unfreeze #EndSARS Promoters Accounts

CBN Asks Court Not to Unfreeze #EndSARS Promoters Accounts.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has urged Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court in Abuja not to release the accounts of #EndSARS campaigners giving reasons they are still under probe for terrorism financing.

The CBN made this known in a counter-affidavit in opposition to a motion on notice filed by Gatefield Nigeria Limited, a company that sponsored freelance journalists to cover the #EndSARS protests in October

However, Gatefield opposed the CBN’s action in court, insisting that the act was illegal because the apex bank had frozen the accounts even before the court order to do so was obtained.

In a counter-affidavit filed by a lawyer, A.J. Apera, on behalf of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, the apex bank noted that it duly obtained a court order on November 4, 2020, to freeze the accounts.

The CBN, however, made no mention of #EndSARS in the court papers but only told the court that all those whose accounts were frozen were under probe for suspected terrorism.

The affidavit read in part, “That the bank accounts frozen by this honorable court, in this case, are suspected to be involved in transactions bordering on terrorism financing and that the Central Bank of Nigeria is investigating the said accounts in that regard.”

The apex bank said it did not need to inform the #EndSARS campaigners about the freezing of their accounts because of the nature of the investigation which is terrorism-related.

It added, “That the allegations involving the defendants’ accounts being investigated by the Central Bank of Nigeria border on terrorism and that there was an extreme urgency warranting the grant of the ex parte order in this suit.”

The apex court said it had the legal right to investigate the defendants because it had to do with financing and funds being stored in financial institutions.

The CBN said it would forward its findings to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for further investigation.

The affidavit, obtained by Punch, further read, “That it will be in the best interest of justice that the instant application is dismissed as the investigations being conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria in respect of the defendants’ frozen accounts have not been concluded.”

The United Kingdom parliament had last week defamed the Federal Government for freezing the accounts of #EndSARS campaigners under the guise of probing terrorist financing.

The accounts have remained frozen for 40 days while none of the accused has been invited for questioning.