By Ade Jacobs
Commercial banks in the country appear to have washed their hands off the simmering allegations that they unilaterally blocked the accounts of #EndSARS promoters.
This development followed accusations that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has restricted transactions on the accounts of individuals and companies connected to the protesters.
The clarifications came amidst worries by prominent leaders and donors of #EndSARS that they are being targeted by government, which has allegedly directed the apex bank to deactivate their accounts.
Companies and individuals donated huge sums to the movement, which was used by their leaders for treatment of those wounded, feeding, logistics and securing bail of protesters arrested by the police during the period.
Feminist Coalition, the manager of the crowdfunding donation links and bank account used by the coalition, had on October 12 cried out that Flutterwave link, the account it used to receive donations, had been deactivated after it had received over N37 million from donors which included Quidax, Fintech, BudgIT Nigeria and Empawa Africa.
Other donors include Adams Bradford, an English socialist activist and a group, Scale My Hustle.
The authorities have since followed up by clamping down on those that took active part in the protests that lasted for close to two weeks.
For instance, Bassey Isreal, who was in charge of the #EndSARS medical team in Rivers State, according to a report in the Punch of Tuesday, November 3, had his account in Access Bank Plc deactivated since mid-October, and that all efforts to reactivate it has been rebuffed by the commercial bank which simply told him that the directive to stop him from operating the account came from the apex bank.
Feyikemi Abudu, a prominent member of the movement, also tweeted that she has received similar complaints from other #EndSARS members that their accounts have been blocked.
The DMBs, however, refused to say categorically whether #EndSARS or their promoters are keeping accounts with them, when 365Daily asked them to comment on the issue, citing privacy laws that restrict commercial banks from disclosing the details of their customers, adding that the CBN alone has the authority to do so.
There are more accounts to be restricted in the coming days, sources in one of the banks said, revealing that the apex bank has already directed DMBs to compile the details of individuals and firms which donated money to #EndSARS movement during the protest against police brutality. The agitation, which started after some policemen shot one person in Delta state last month, was to snowball into widespread looting and arson after hoodlums hijacked the protests.
“It’s not only our bank, those targeted are account holders in other commercial banks in the country and those concerned will only find out their accounts have been restricted when they want to perform transactions. When that happens all we need to do, as law abiding organizations, is to direct the complainants to CBN because we have no control over what has happened,” a source in United Bank for Africa, UBA told 365Daily this morning.
Contacted, Access Bank spokesman, Abdul Imoyo, said he will not make any comment on the accounts of customers for confidentiality reasons.
The CBN, on its part, is yet to respond to the allegations. The apex bank’s acting spokesman, Abdulmumin Isa, failed to respond to calls and text messages sent to him by 365Daily over the vexed issue.