NATIONAL: We froze accounts of EndSARS campaigners in error — CJ

The Chief Judge of a Federal High Court in Abuja, John Tsoho, said on Tuesday that the court did not freeze the accounts of #EndSARS promoters but those of corporate bodies under doubt of illegal tax avoidance.

Speaking at a special court session to mark the beginning of the 2020 to 2021 legal year of the court, Justice Tsoho said that those who made such allegations of the court freezing the accounts of #EndSars protesters were being uncharitable to the court.

According to him, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approached the court seeking an order to freeze certain accounts of corporate bodies and names of individuals were not attached to the applications.

“I assigned those cases and no individual’s name was mentioned,” Tsoho said.

“Three months before the protest, the CBN kept bringing applications, almost in their hundreds, based on what they call deliberate resolve to ruin the economy through money laundering.”

“So if it was the #EndSARS people that were involved in the activity undercover, then it is unfortunate for people to begin to call and vilify the court, making damaging allegations against the court,” he added.

He maintained that if such steps had not been taken, the Nigerian economy would have collapsed.

He added that if any of the accounts belonged to any #EndSars protester, it was a mere coincidence.

In  the wake of the widespread EndSARS protest, the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele obtained an ex-parte order from the Abuja Division of the federal high court to freeze the accounts of 19 individuals linked to #EndSARS protests and Gatefield Nigeria Limited, a company that sponsored freelance journalists to cover the #EndSARS protests.

The government action was largely viewed as a deliberate crackdown on the protesters. There are also issues around the legality of the action as the central banker was said to have affected the restriction on the affected accounts before obtaining the order.

But early this month again, the CBN begged the court not to unfreeze the accounts of #EndSARS campaigners because they were still under probe for terrorism financing.

The CBN said this in a counter-affidavit in opposition to a motion on notice filed by Gatefield Nigeria Limited

Tsoho’s assertion could further raise the controversy on a matter that has already drawn condemnation locally and internationally.