By Ife Osemedua
In spite of the disturbing silence and outright denials by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over allegations of authorizing the blocking of the bank accounts of some people identified as promoters or sympathizers of the #EndSARS protests, 365Daily can authoritatively confirm that the apex bank actually gave the controversial order after surreptitiously obtaining a court order.
365daily sighted a court order obtained by the CBN from the Federal High Court, Abuja division, directing some commercial banks to block specific account numbers belonging to #EndSARS promoters or donors.
Some of the banks include Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, United Bank of Africa, Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank PLC.
365Daily had reported in an earlier article titled ‘Controversy trails blocking of #EndSARS promoters account’ that “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.”
Below is the court paper containing the names and account details of those affected by the CBN’s court order. (Document source, peoplesgazette.com)