By Cross Udo, Abuja
President of the United States, Joe Biden, has expressed support for Nigeria’s quest to get a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, especially given the country’s leadership roles in Africa and peace-keeping efforts and sacrifices worldwide.
The US President, who spoke to his Nigerian counterpart yesterday in a telephone conversation, also expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian government for stopping the criminal prosecution of Binance executives for cryptocurrency money laundering charges.
Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen, was arrested on a business trip to Nigeria in February and later charged alongside his company, Binance, with laundering $35.4m and tax evasion, which they denied.
This followed the escape from custody of his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan dual national who was Binance’s Africa regional manager and had been arrested in Nigeria alongside Gambaryan.
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria announced last week in court in Abuja that it had withdrawn the money laundering charges against Tigran Gambaryan to allow him to get medical treatment outside the country.
Briefing State House correspondents in Abuja, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said an appreciative Biden called Tinubu at 4 p.m., and both leaders spoke for about 30 minutes, covering other issues of mutual interest to both countries.
According to Tuggar, “I have been directed by the President to brief you regarding his phone call with US President Joe Biden at about 4 p.m. today (yesterday).
“The two leaders exchanged pleasantries, and President Biden proceeded to thank President Tinubu for his partnership and Nigeria’s partnership, in particular the collaboration between the two countries about our law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of the suspects of the cryptocurrency exchange company (Binance).
“In response, President Tinubu also thanked the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas and also discussed the issue of cooperation about security in Africa, particularly in West Africa.
“He equally assured President Biden that this partnership will continue, and he stated as a matter of fact not just once, at least twice, that the future of the world relies on Africa, which was why it was important for this partnership to continue.
“The two leaders also discussed the issue of permanent seats and the United Nations Security Council and President Biden once again assured that the United States is committed to seeing Africa have two Permanent Seats.
“He also reiterated that he does not see why one of those seats should not belong to Nigeria, given its position in Africa, stature, and importance.
“And of course, President Biden, as we all know, is leaving very soon as he is not contesting elections, so the two leaders also exchanged fondness for each other and the meetings they have 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.
“It is 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 the rule of law, and we have our processes, and the United States equally recognizes those processes and respects them.
“As a matter of fact, President Tinubu, during the discussion, even mentioned the similarities of the fact that our system of government is very similar to the United States system of government; we adopted our system of government having gone back to civilian constitution and democracy in 1999 by adopting a US styled system of government.”
Asked how long the conversation lasted and who made the call, the Minister said, “Yes indeed, President Biden called President Tinubu. I will say the discussion lasted for about 30 minutes.”
“He further asked whether the charges against the Binance executive had been dropped in view of Biden’s call to express his gratitude over the release, and he said no.
“Certainly, there was a situation where gratitude was expressed, but again, remember I said we have processes. We are a country guided by the rule of law and due process, and that is what transpired.
“Of course, there were diplomatic exchanges also and discussions that resulted in resolving that, but it was not purely that; it was also Nigeria following due process and abiding by the rule of law.”
On whether the partnership is in favour of Nigeria, Tugga said, “Well, in terms of the partnership, don’t forget that there’s a dimension of that which is the sharing of intelligence which is very vital, application of technology and equipment-kinetic and non-kinetic and training.
“Of course, the United States is also a leader in the world today in artificial intelligence. I would say that they are the number one nation when it comes to artificial intelligence, and it is evident that in the future, a lot will rely on artificial intelligence.
“So the sooner we get into it, the better, and the United States has expressed interest in working with Nigeria on artificial intelligence. I believe if I heard it correctly, President Biden also alluded to the upcoming event that is coming up in Lagos on artificial intelligence, so we will continue to collaborate in that regard.”
