Go to court if your accounts are frozen – Akeredolu tells #EndSARS sponsors

Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has asked individuals whose accounts were frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) following their alleged involvement in the #EndSARS protest to challenge the action of the CBN in court.

Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who described the action of the CBN as illegal, expressed confidence in the ability of the court to unfreeze the frozen accounts.

He said the owners of the accounts should approach the court to challenge the decision.

According to him, those affected by the action of the apex bank have the right to expose the necessity or otherwise and even repudiate the accusations slammed against them by the CBN as frivolous and unfair.

Featuring on a live television programme on Channels TV, Akeredolu said “I don’t see anything wrong in it. If for instance, my account was frozen, what would I do? All I would do is go back to court to explain. The #EndSARS promoters should do that.

“Even politicians, their accounts are sometimes frozen. You have to go to court and explain. And at the end of the day, the court will say, ‘Leave the account. The account should be de-frozen’ and you take your money back.

“If it is that ‘okay, we used this money to pay this caterer to give food to these boys when they were there. We spent money between before the hoodlums took over,’ it will be explained, people will know and the accounts will be de-frozen.

“It is just that we (CBN) suspected this account then the owner of the account will explain; it is not a conclusion that those accounts were used for acts of treason.” the governor said.

The Nigerian Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria got a request granted by Justice Ahmed Mohammed on October 20 to freeze the bank accounts of some of the protesters accused of sponsoring the nationwide demonstration.

The CBN froze the accounts of 20 persons including a public affairs company linked to the demonstration.

Many of the protesters, who were affected by the decision, had said their financial institutions told them the apex bank reportedly instructed them to place a “Post No Debit” restriction on their accounts.

Nigerians have condemned the action of government with some lawyers already indicating interest to defend the rights of those affected by the move.

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