Business

BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: Provide evidence in seven days or face legal action — Lawmaker tells Binance executive

Published

1 year ago

February 14, 2025

357 Views

Philip Agbese, a member of the house of representatives, has denied a bribery allegation against him by an executive of Binance Holdings Limited, Tigran Gambaryan.In a post published on X on Friday, Gambaryan recounted his experiences in the hands of some Nigerian lawmakers.

Gambaryan claimed three lawmakers, including Peter Akpanke, and Agbese demanded a $150 million bribe in cryptocurrency payment into their personal wallets.

The Binance executive, however, failed to provide any evidence to support his claims.

In a statement issued on Friday, Agbese said he was not a member of the committee and never demanded a bribe from Binance.

“I am outraged by the false allegations made by Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of the controversial crypto firm Binance, claiming that I was among those who demanded a $150 million bribe from him,” the statement reads.

These allegations are false. I was not part of any meeting with any Binance executive regarding money for any purpose.

“The leadership of the committee took the matter to court, and Binance has already apologized.

We exchanged pleasantries and, in character with my person as an avid pursuer of knowledge, discussed Binance’s activities that did not include any demand from anyone.

“It was during this visit to the office of Hon. Peter Ankpanke, with Hon. Peter Anekwe present, that he told me they were interfacing with Binance Team from abroad over a referral to their Committee.

What transpired between the two of them and the Binance executive after I left the office is left to them.

I never saw those visitors again after that chance meeting and did not afterwards attend any meeting with Binance executives, the EFCC, or the DSS.

“I am aware that when this issue was first raised, the Chairman of the Committee went to court and Binance apologised. So, all inquiries should be directed to the Committee, not to Hon. Philip Agbese.”

Agbese noted that he has never been involved in any cryptocurrency trading and does not have a crypto wallet so he could not have asked for funds to be credited to a “non-existent wallet”.

Agbese urged Gambaryan to either publish any evidence linking him to the bribery accusation or apologize within seven days, or face legal action.

Read the full statement below:

“I am outraged by the false allegations made by Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of the controversial crypto firm Binance, claiming that I was among those who demanded a $150 million bribe from him.

These allegations are false. I was not part of any meeting with any Binance executive regarding money for any purpose.

The leadership of the Committee took the matter to court, and Binance has already apologized.

“Let it be on record that I am not a member of the Committee on Economic and Financial Crimes. I visited my colleague, Hon. Peter Ankpanke, in his office, where he was meeting with some visitors about an activity of his Committee, with Hon. Peter Anakwe, a member of the Committee present. We exchanged pleasantries and, in character with my person as an avid pursuer of knowledge, discussed Binance’s activities that did not include any demand from anyone.

What transpired between the two of them and the Binance executive after I left the office is left to them. I never saw those visitors again after that chance meeting and did not afterwards attend any meeting with Binance executives, the EFCC, or the DSS.

“I am aware that when this issue was first raised, the Chairman of the Committee went to court and Binance apologised.

So, all inquiries should be directed to the Committee, not to Hon. Philip Agbese.

“I have never used any cryptocurrency as I do not have a crypto wallet anywhere in the world, so I could not have asked for funds to be credited to a non-existent wallet.

Gambaryan and his associate, who escaped from prison, should return to the EFCC and defend themselves. Instead of trying to implicate me, they should focus on addressing the allegations against them.

As a consequence of the foregoing, I demand that Tigran Gambaryan publishes any evidence that links Hon. Philip Agbese to the issue. The man has spewed many other lies in his report about the government demanding information on opposition elements and other outrageous claims.

I further demand that, failing to provide evidence as stated, Tigran Gambaryan must cause a retraction of his malicious claims and publication and apologise to me within the next 7 days or face legal action from my lawyers.

This is not the first allegation against me by a foreign entity.

The first was that I work for the past government and the Armed Forces to promote Nigeria’s agenda, which shows the extent of desperation by entities that are interested in undermining public office holders they perceive as nationalistic.

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MAN Condemns World Bank’s Call for Nigeria PMS imports

MAN, described the April 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU) by the World Bank, as ” structurally flawed, counterproductive, and highly detrimental to Nigeria’s industrialization agenda

Published

12 hours ago

April 17, 2026

OCHEFA

16 Views

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) urged the Federal Government and the petroleum industry regulators to disregard the recent prescription by the World Bank that Nigeria should open its borders to imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to solve inflationary crisis.

In a position document titled ‘FUEL IMPORTATION PRESCRIPTION AS A RECIPE FOR DEINDUSTRIALISATION AND NATIONAL ECONOMIC RETROGRESSION,’ MAN, described the April 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU) by the World Bank, as ” structurally flawed, counterproductive, and highly detrimental to Nigeria’s industrialization agenda.”

Segun Ajayi – Kadir, its Director -General, noted that While we welcome the Bretton Woods institution’s clarification that national energy security is paramount in today’s volatile global climate, we reiterate our fundamental objection to the initial premise that reinstating petrol import licenses is a viable, long-term strategy to avert an inflation spike. It is not, and should not be considered as an option.

The Association emphasised that importation of PMS will undermine domestic refining capacity; contribute to the disruption of the foreign exchange market; disincentivize investment in and expansion of local refining, and truncate the relief that Nigerians have started to enjoy since the advent of Dangote Refinery and other local refineries.

Our Position

The World Bank’s report posited that the suspension of import licenses stifled competition, allowing domestic ex-depot prices to rise, thereby driving up inflation.

This analysis panders to short-term bias and does not take into account the following foundational macroeconomic realities of the Nigerian economy:

The FX Drain and the Major Driver of Inflation

Nigeria’s inflation is fundamentally cost-push and can be aggressively driven by exchange rate volatility.

Therefore, promoting PMS imports means returning to the era of fiercely competing for scarce foreign exchange (FX) to fund foreign refineries. Such depletion of FX depreciates the Naira further.

A weakened Naira spikes the cost of importing critical raw materials and machinery for domestic manufacturers, triggering a far bigger wave of inflation across all sectors of the economy than a temporary 12% differential in fuel pump prices.

Business

CBN introduces money market instrument NOFR

The introduction of NOFR positions Nigeria alongside global benchmarks such as SOFR in the United States, SONIA in the United Kingdom, €STR in the Eurozone, and TONA in Japan, while also complementing Africa’s JIBAR benchmark in South Africa.

Published

15 hours ago

April 17, 2026

OCHEFA

24 Views

The Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Financial Markets Dealers Association on Friday announced the introduction of the Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate (NOFR) as a new benchmark for the country’s money market.

The disclosure was contained in a press statement issued by the CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali.

According to the statement, the introduction of NOFR positions Nigeria alongside global benchmarks such as SOFR in the United States, SONIA in the United Kingdom, €STR in the Eurozone, and TONA in Japan, while also complementing Africa’s JIBAR benchmark in South Africa.

The apex bank explained that the new rate aligns Nigeria with global standards for short-term interest rate benchmarks and is expected to improve pricing efficiency in the money market

“NOFR was developed to align Nigeria with global best practices in short-term interest rate benchmarks.

It is expected to improve price discovery and transparency while promoting consistent pricing of money market instruments,” it added.

Business

FCCPC says didn’t ban MTN, Glo, Airtel data loans

The Commission introduced the DEON Consumer Lending Regulations in July 2025, aimed at curbing “the excesses of abusive service providers whose practices had generated persistent consumer harm and undermined confidence in the market.”

Published

15 hours ago

April 17, 2026

OCHEFA

28 Views

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has clarified that it didn’t banned MTN, Glo, Airtel including Vitel Wireless from offering airtime borrowing and data advance services in Nigeria.

The Commission made the clarification in a statement on Friday, dismissing what it called a wave of misinformation, stating unequivocally that “those claims are incorrect,” stressing that “the Commission has not prohibited airtime borrowing or data advance services, and no directive was issued preventing consumers from accessing lawful telecom value-added services.”

The clarification comes amid growing public concern over alleged service disruptions and rising complaints in the telecom sector.

The FCCPC explained that its intervention in the space followed numerous consumer complaints involving opaque charges, unexplained deductions, aggressive recovery practices, poor disclosure standards, and inadequate accountability within segments of the digital lending and advance-services market.

To address these issues, the Commission introduced the DEON Consumer Lending Regulations in July 2025, aimed at curbing “the excesses of abusive service providers whose practices had generated persistent consumer harm and undermined confidence in the market.”