A Federal High Court in Abuja has frozen 32 bank accounts allegedly connected to the recent #EndBadGovernance protests that took place across Nigeria.
The court’s decision, issued on Thursday, directs all relevant banks to place a “Post-No-Debit” (PND) order on the accounts, effectively preventing any withdrawals or transfers. The banks are also instructed to apprehend the account holders or anyone attempting to conduct transactions with these accounts.
Justice Emeka Nwite issued the ruling in response to an ex-parte motion filed by the Counsel to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed. The motion alleged that the accounts were being used to fund activities related to terrorism financing, treasonable felonies, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking. The court’s ruling is intended to ensure that funds within these accounts are not moved in ways that could obstruct ongoing investigations or potential prosecutions.
“The banks are hereby directed by this honorable court to issue details of the account package(s) and to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts, disable the ATM, while allowing inflow into the said accounts from the date of this court order,” declared Justice Nwite during the ruling.
The accounts affected by this order belong to various individuals and companies. Among them are PA.LIN.HO Global Service Ltd, Innocent Angel Lovet Chinyere Nkiru, Obidient Movement Multipurpose Cooperative Society, and Great Communicators Champion Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd. Specific bank accounts frozen include those at Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, UBA, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and other financial institutions.
In the court documents marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1219/2024, the Inspector-General’s counsel argued that freezing these accounts was necessary to prevent the suspects from using the funds for illegal activities. Detective Gregory Woji, who provided an affidavit in support of the motion, revealed that initial investigations showed some suspects were being recruited by financiers to incite violence and cause destruction.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that some of the suspects arrested were being recruited by financiers to cause mayhem and destroy lives and property,” Woji stated in his affidavit. He added that some foreign nationals were also implicated in these activities.
Woji emphasized that freezing the accounts and ordering the arrest of the account holders was crucial for the interests of justice. “It is in the interest of justice to grant this request by freezing the accounts of the suspects and ordering their immediate arrest upon sighting them, pending the outcome of the investigation and possible prosecution,” he said.
The freezing of these accounts marks a significant development in the government’s efforts to clamp down on what it perceives as threats to national security. The #EndBadGovernance protests, which gained momentum across the country, have drawn both national and international attention, and this latest move by the court underscores the severity with which authorities are treating the situation.