…places diaspora sponsors on watch list, blocks bank accounts
The Nigerian government on Tuesday said it has placed sponsors of the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests on a watch list and also blocked some bank accounts belonging to the sponsors whom, it said, mostly live abroad.
This revelation came at the end of a closed-door strategic meeting of the Chief of Defence Staff with heads of intelligence and security agencies at Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the meeting, the Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS), Kemi Nandap, said the sponsors, who are in the diaspora, would be arrested immediately they step into the country.
“We have diaspora sponsors, they are on our watch list. They are watch-listed, any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll be notified and they will be picked up and handed to the appropriate authority,” Nandap said.
She said in response to the protests, the Immigration Service had deployed more officers to land borders and airports to ensure effective manning of the country’s entry and exit points and also stepped up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.
Also speaking, the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, said the agency he heads had unmasked some sponsors.
Bichi, who was represented at the meeting by the DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said some bank accounts had already been blocked. He said the some operators of these accounts live abroad and were being monitored.
This is coming barely 24 hours after President Tinubu summoned an emergency closed-door Security Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, which was attended by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser, all Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, the Comptroller Generals of Custom and Immigration, as well as the Chief of Staff to the President.
Shortly after the meeting with Tinubu on Monday, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, cautioned citizens agitating for military rule and those hoisting the Russian flag in Nigeria, warning that the latter was a treasonable offence.
He told journalists that the military had accepted democracy and regime change would never be allowed in Nigeria, warning those behind the call for military coup to desist.
“All of us have seen it where foreign flags have been flown within the sovereignty of Nigeria, and that is totally unacceptable. We are warning in clear terms and the President has also said we should convey this, that we will not accept anybody, any individual flying any foreign flag in Nigeria,” General Musa said.
“That is a treasonable offence, and it will be viewed and treated as such. So nobody shall allow himself to be used by any individual.
“Also the issue of coups, Nigeria is a sovereign nation, Nigeria is a democratic nation, all security agencies are here to defend democracy and ensure that democracy continues to thrive.
“We will not accept anyone pushing or taking any action, seemingly or for whatever reason, to want to push for any change of government. Democracy is what we stand for, democracy is what we will continue to defend,” he said.
Nigerians trooped out to the streets in their numbers beginning on Thursday, 1st August to protest the worsening economic situation in the country and its attendant hunger and hardship occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy and floating of the naira by the Tinubu administration last year.
While the protests proceeded smoothly in most states, they turned violent in some others, especially in the North, resulting in loss of lives and looting and destruction of private and public property. Also in the North, some protesters flew the Russian flag while some were heard calling for military takeover of the country’s leadership.
In a bid to douse tension, President Tinubu addressed the nation in a broadcast on Sunday, calling for cessation of the protests to give room for dialogue. However, some protesters did not heed the President’s call but continued with their protests.
