Tigran Gambaryan, a senior executive at Binance Holdings Limited, has publicly accused the Nigerian government of attempting to exploit the cryptocurrency firm’s data to target opposition political parties. In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) this past Friday, Gambaryan shared details of his personal experience while detained by Nigerian law enforcement.
Gambaryan was held by Nigerian authorities between February and October 2024, reportedly in connection with Binance’s operations within the country. During this period, he faced accusations that the Nigerian government sought to use the cryptocurrency platform as a scapegoat for the worsening economic situation, particularly the devaluation of the naira.
According to Gambaryan, the Nigerian government was fully aware that the naira’s plummeting value was primarily due to President Tinubu’s new monetary policies, which included removing the naira’s peg to the dollar. However, Gambaryan claims the government deflected blame onto Binance, falsely accusing the firm of being responsible for the currency’s decline.
“They tried to use us (Binance) to violate international privacy laws by demanding user data on all Nigerians to target opposition members allegedly ‘manipulating the price of the naira’,” Gambaryan said in his post. He further emphasized that the policy change, while controversial, was the root cause of the naira’s collapse, and not Binance’s actions.
Gambaryan also addressed the widely circulated story surrounding the alleged escape of Binance’s regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from Nigerian custody. The narrative suggested that Anjarwalla escaped during mosque prayers, but Gambaryan dismissed this as a fabrication. He clarified that Anjarwalla had returned to the facility but managed to escape later. Gambaryan claimed that the authorities had wrongly detained innocent EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) detectives who were not even present during the escape.
“If anyone should have been detained, it was Belloji (EFCC operative) for multiple basic law enforcement failures and incompetence,” Gambaryan stated.
