The arrest and detention of two executives of the cryptocurrency trading platform Binance, according to former minister of state for defense Musiliu Obanikoro, is proof that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is making an effort to address security concerns in Nigeria.
On Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Wednesday, Obanikoro, a former lawmaker who served as the district’s representative for Lagos Central Senatorial District from 2003 to 2007, made an appearance.
“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 under illegal manner. That is an evidence that this is a government is working,” he said.
The head of the president’s party and the All Progressives Congress (APC), argued that the country’s security issues, including “prevailing” terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes, cannot be attributed to the current administration because previous administrations lacked the political will to put an end to the alarming trend.
Nigeria is experiencing economic hardship due to the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy, rising food inflation, currency instability, rising inflation, and high living expenses, which have sparked protests in several sections of the nation.
Since then, the government has focused on cryptocurrency websites, stifling them through telecommunications firms and accusing them of speculating.
Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated last week that $26 billion in questionable cryptocurrency trade transactions went through Binance.
The government has demanded roughly $10 billion in compensation from the cryptocurrency platform in response to claims that it manipulated foreign exchange rates, adversely affecting the value of the naira relative to the dollar. This comes the same week that two officials from Binance were arrested in Nigeria.
