Reno Omokri, former presidential aide under President Goodluck Jonathan, believes the bribery allegations by Tigran Gambarya against government officials in Nigeria are a ‘false flag operations to distract Nigerians from revelations that USAID funded Boko Haram’.
“The lies by Tigran Gambarya against Malam Nuhu Ribadu and the Office of the National Security Adviser are a deliberate distraction designed to deflect attention from the terror funding scandal involving USAID”, Mr. Omokri said.
Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive, had accused Nigerian government officials of demanding a staggering $150 million bribe from him while in detention.
His detention was in connection to what the government described as “criminal manipulation of the Nigerian currency through peer-to-peer platforms like Binance”, but investigators were allegedly frustrated by the tactics deployed by Mr. Gambaryan and his team.
The head of financial crime of crypto firm Binance, who was detained in Nigeria for eight months, was discharged by a Federal High Court in October 2024 “on humanitarian grounds and following a high-level diplomatic intervention that ended with tangible benefits for Nigeria”, according to Mohammed Idris, the minister of Information and National Orientation.
Nigerian government has also come out to deny the allegations leveled against its officials.
Aligning with President Tinubu’s government response, Reno Omokri said the “lies by Tigran Gambarya against Malam Nuhu Ribadu and the Office of the National Security Adviser are a deliberate distraction designed to deflect attention from the terror funding scandal involving USAID”.
“Discerning Nigerians may have noticed that Mr. Gambarya made his wild allegations precisely an hour after Republican U.S. Congressman Scott Perry revealed that certain U.S. high officials had been funding Boko Haram. Exactly an hour after Congressman Perry unveiled those revelations, Mr. Tigran Gambarya suddenly posted his false allegations on X.
“This is a man who has been roaming free in the United States for weeks. Why now?
“Nigerians should note that Mr. Tigran Gambarya is a functionary of certain agencies who were involved in acts of economic sabotage against Nigeria, which included providing a platform for siphoning $25 billion out of Nigeria annually.
“Nigerians may also recall that after Binance was delisted by the government and ceased operating in Nigeria, the Naira rose sharply, appreciating by 36.4% in one day. This caused President Tinubu to issue a statement on video praising the “seismic shift” of our currency, which had gone from ₦1598 to $1 on Thursday, March 21, 2024, to ₦1,382 to $1 the following day, Friday, March 22, 2024.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that Mr. Tigran Gambarya, who was a former agent, would now come out to make his fallacious claims just as it was revealed that some interests were funding terror in Nigeria through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Congressman Perry says was making multimillion Dollar annual payments to Boko Haram at a time when the Obama and Biden regimes were refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria.
“This is a typical distraction strategy, and Nigeria should not fall for it. The swamp is desperate and, therefore, clutching at straws.
“Malam Nubu Ribadu is an incorruptible leader who, as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, refused a $15 million cash bribe in 2006 and instead deposited the funds at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Tigran Gambarya is an allegedly corrupt economic saboteur who worked against Nigeria’s economic interests for people who Congressman Perry has now exposed as funders of terror”, Reno Omokri posted on his verified X handle.
