The Nigerian government has frozen more than $37 million worth of cryptocurrency held in wallets believed to be owned by some organisers of #EndBadGovernance protests, Premium Times is reporting.
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.
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.
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.
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.
