BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Senate has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria did not inform it about the Federal High Court approval it got to freeze the bank accounts of some #EndSARS promoters.
In view of this, the lawmakers said they were awaiting further briefing by the apex bank on the development, adding that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, did not write the Senate before taking such action.
This position was made known on Monday, when the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, defended his ministry’s 2021 budget estimates before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
The Point had reported that the Federal High Court, Abuja, had granted the Central Bank of Nigeria the approval to freeze the bank accounts of 20 promoters of the #EndSARS protests.
The apex bank obtained the approval to freeze the affected accounts, domiciled in Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Zenith Bank, till January 2021, in the first instance, following a motion ex parte it filed before the Federal High Court.
The accounts, the judgment said, had been frozen pending the outcome of investigation and inquiry currently being conducted by the CBN.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, however, told journalists shortly after Malami’s appearance, that the matter was currently not before the Senate.
