….Declare support for Nigeria’s quest for Permanent Seat on United Nations Security Council,
By Attah Ede
President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday had a phone conversation with President Joe Biden of the United States of America, following the recent release of the Head of Finance Crime compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.
The phone discussion which took place at about 4pm, Nigerian time, on Tuesday, lasted for about 30 minutes and was initiated by the American President Biden.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, while briefing state House Correspondents about the development.
Gambaryan, a US citizen, was arrested last February while on a business trip to Nigeria and later charged alongside his company, Binance, with laundering $35.4 million and tax evasion, which they denied.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week announced in court in Abuja that it had withdrawn the money laundering charges against Gambaryan to allow him to get medical treatment outside the country.
In a show of appreciation and a number of other matters of mutual interest, President Biden called President Tinubu during which the two President had fruitful discussions.
Ambassador Tuggar stated that the discussions between the two presidents centred around the recent discharge of Gambaryan and other diplomatic issues.
He said that the American President expressed support for Nigeria’s quest to get a permanent seat status on the United Nations Security Council, especially with the country’s leadership roles in Africa and peace-keeping efforts and sacrifices across the globe.
Tuggar said President Biden also 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 its importance.
His words: “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 crypto currency exchange company that you are all aware of.
“In response, President Tinubu also thanked him and the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas, and also 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 and he stated, as a matter of fact, not more than not just once, but 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 having two permanent seats and also 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.
“And of course, President Biden as we all know is leaving very soon as he is not contesting elections, so the two leaders also exchanged fondness for each other and the meetings they have had including the G20 meeting which is another area where Nigeria is pushing hard to ensure that it becomes a member of the G20.
They concluded by saying that they were looking forward to staying in touch even though President Biden is leaving office.
“And it is also important to underscore the fact that it was made clear during the phone call that Nigeria is a law abiding country. It is a country that is guided by the rule of law and we have our processes and the United States equally recognises those processes and respects them.
“As a matter of fact, President Tinubu during the discussion even mentioned the similarities of the fact that our system of government is very similar to the United States system of government, we adopted our own system of government having gone back to civilian constitution and democracy in 1999 by adopting a US styled system of government.
” So the rule of law is very important which is why we have these processes which the two leaders both assured that they will continue to collaborate in that regard”.
