2 hours ago
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President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has called to thank President Bola Tinubu for releasing Binance Executive, Tigran Gambaryan, and in appreciation promised to support Nigeria’s quest for a seat in the United Nations Security Council.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed this when he briefed State House Correspondents yesterday in Abuja. Recall that a court had ordered that Gambaryan, a US citizen, who, alongside his company, was facing charges of $35 million money laundering be released to allow him get medical treatment abroad.
To facilitate his release, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) withdrew the case against Gambaryan, the head of Financial Crime Compliance at Binance, in open court, in Abuja, last week.
Tuggar said: “I have been directed by Mr President to brief you with regards to his phone-call with US President Joseph Biden at about 4pm today (yesterday), where the two leaders exchanged pleasantries, and Biden proceeded to thank Tinubu for his partnership and for Nigeria’s partnership, and in particular, for the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies, as well as the release of one of the suspects of the crypto-currency exchange company (Binance) that we’re all aware of here.
“And in response, President Tinubu also thanked him and the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas, and also discussed the issue of collaboration with regards to security in Africa, and West Africa in particular. “And President Biden equally assured that this is a partnership that will continue.
And he stated, as a matter of fact, not more than not just once, but at least twice, that the future of the world resides in Africa, which is why it was important for this partnership to continue.
And the two leaders also discussed the issue of the permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council, and President Biden once again assured that the US is committed to seeing Africa having two permanent seats.
And also reiterated that he does not see any reason why one of those seats should not belong to Nigeria, given its position in Africa, its stature and its importance.
“Biden, as we all know, is leaving office very soon as he’s not contesting elections, so the two leaders also exchanged fondness for each other and their relationship and the meetings that they’ve had, including the G20 meeting, which is another area where Nigeria is pushing hard to ensure that it becomes a member of the G20 and, of course, they concluded by saying that they were looking forward to staying in touch, even though President Biden is leaving office.
“And it’s also important to underscore the fact that it was made clear during the phone call that Nigeria is a law abiding country.
It is a country that is guided by rule of law, and we have their process, our processes, and the United States equally recognises those processes and respects them.
“Rule of law is very important, which is why we have these processes, and the two leaders, both assured that they will continue to collaborate in that regard.”
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