Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has said the arrest and detention of two Binance executives is evidence that the President Bola Tinubu administration is working.
Obanikoro, former Minister of State for Defence, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to speak to some of the things that the security people are doing. Among them which we also saw last week was the arrest that the NSA (National Security Adviser) made of those foreigners who are also helping to devalue our currency in crypto coins in illegal manner
He claimed the arrests demonstrate that “this is a government working” to combat security challenges.
He stated that the new administration cannot be blamed for the “prevailing” terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other security challenges in the country because the past administrations lacked the political will to stamp out the menacing trend
The Nigerian government had recently detained two executives from the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance, escalating tensions between the company and authorities.
The move comes amidst accusations from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that Binance said $26 billion in suspicious flows in the form of crypto exchanges passed through Binance.
The government accused the platform of manipulating foreign exchange rates and facilitating illicit financial activities.
Following these accusations, the government blocked access to Binance and other crypto platforms in Nigeria. Days later, two Binance executives were detained upon entering the country, reportedly for negotiations with authorities.
On Tuesday, Binance said it will discontinue deposits in naira after Tuesday afternoon and will no longer support withdrawals of the currency after 6 a.m. Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) on Friday.
