Tinubu, Biden in 30-minute phone talk on UN seat, Gambaryan

United States President Joe Biden has thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the government for dropping the criminal charges against Binance Head of Financial Crimes Compliance Tigran Gambaryan.

Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in February and later charged alongside his company, Binance, with laundering $35.4million, and tax evasion, which they denied.

His colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan dual national who was Binance’s Africa regional manager, escaped from custody.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week withdrew the money laundering charges against Gambaryan.Biden called President Tinubu at about 4 pm yesterday for about 30 minutes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, told reporters that discussions centered around Gambaryan’s discharge and other diplomatic matters.

The minister said Biden expressed support for Nigeria’s quest for a permanent seat status on the United Nations Security Council.

Tuggar said: “The call was about the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of one of the suspects of the cryptocurrency exchange company that you are all aware of.

“In response, President Tinubu also thanked him and the U.S. for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas and discussed the issue of collaboration with regards to security in Africa, in particular West Africa.

“President Biden equally assured that this is a partnership that will continue.“

He stated, at least twice, that the future of the world resides in Africa, which is why it was important for this partnership to continue.“

The two leaders also discussed the issue of the permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council, and President Biden once again assured that the United States is committed to seeing Africa have two permanent seats.

“He reiterated that he does not see any reason why one of those seats should not belong to Nigeria, given its position in Africa, its stature and importance.”