United States President, Joe Biden, has expressed gratitude to his Nigerian counterpart, President Bola Tinubu, for dropping criminal charges against Tigran Gambaryan, Head of Financial Crimes Compliance at Binance.
Recall that Gambaryan, a US citizen, was arrested in February while on a business trip to Nigeria and faced charges of laundering $35.4 million and tax evasion.
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recently withdrew the charges to allow Gambaryan to receive medical treatment abroad.
President Biden and President Tinubu held a 30-minute telephone conversation on Tuesday to discuss the development and other matters of mutual interest. The conversation centered on law enforcement collaboration and diplomatic issues, according to ThisDay.
Briefing newsmen on the issue at the State House, Abuja, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, said discussions between the two presidents centred around the recent discharge of Gambaryan and other diplomatic issues.
According to Tuggar, Biden expressed support for Nigeria’s quest to get a permanent seat status on the United Nations Security Council, especially with the country’s leadership roles in Africa and peace-keeping efforts and sacrifices across the globe.
This endorsement recognizes Nigeria’s significant leadership roles in Africa and its contributions to global peacekeeping efforts.
In response, President Tinubu thanked Biden for the partnership and collaboration in various areas. The two leaders also discussed security cooperation in West Africa, underscoring the importance of their nations’ partnership.
The US-Nigeria partnership has received a boost following this development. President Biden emphasized the significance of Africa’s future to the world, reinforcing the need for continued cooperation between the two nations.
According to Tuggar, “The call was about 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 that you are all aware of.
“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, in particular West Africa.
“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.
“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 United States 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 importance.”
