A Federal High Court in Abuja has frozen 32 bank accounts allegedly linked to the recent #EndBadGovernance protests across Nigeria.
The court order, granted on Thursday, directs banks to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts and to apprehend the account holders or any persons transacting business on these accounts.
Justice Emeka Nwite's ruling was in response to an ex-parte motion filed by the Counsel to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed, who alleged that the accounts were used to promote terrorism financing, treasonable felonies, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking.
According to the judge, the court order aims to prevent the suspects from transferring or withdrawing funds from the accounts, which could jeopardize the investigation and possible prosecution.
He declared, "The banks are hereby directed by this honorable court to issue details of the account package(s) and to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts, disable the ATM, while allowing inflow into the said accounts from the date of this court order."
Meanwhile, in the application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1219/2024, the affected accounts belong to individuals and companies, including PA.LIN.HO Global Service Ltd, Innocent Angel Lovet Chinyere Nkiru, Obidient Movement Multipurpose Cooperative Society, and Great Communicators Champion Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd.
The accounts frozen include: 4010073491 (Fidelity Bank), 1255130019 (Access Bank), 0006084167 (Abbey Mortgage Multipurpose Bank Plc), 0821931299 (FCMB), 1012007655 (FCMB), 0000575573 (A AG Mortgage Bank Plc), 1007871587 (UBA), 2037117333 (UBA), 5421031104 (ECOBANK), 0024541201 (Union Bank), 1022899050 (UBA), 8755008491 (Branch International Services Ltd), 5630208636 (Fidelity), 4936992542 (Fairmoney Microfinance Bank), 8755008499 (Branch International Financial Services Ltd), 2088228208 (UBA), 2115678044 (Zenith Bank), 3041823452 (First Bank), 1011828445 (New Edge Finance), 3024402748 (First Bank), 0161502459 (GTBank), 0040580047 (Access Bank), 0250291788 (Wema Bank), 6112464260 (Branch International Financial Services Ltd), 1000774097 (Sparkle Microfinance Bank Ltd), 3434649965 (Fairmoney Microfinance Bank), 2013556714 (KUDA Microfinance Bank), 3104962864 (Polaris Bank), 6112464267 (Branch International Finance Services Lit), 8137051249 (OPAY), and 8137051249 (PALMPAY).
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Earlier, Detective Gregory Woji, in his affidavit in support of the ex-parte motion, disclosed that preliminary investigations revealed that some of the suspects arrested were being recruited by financiers to cause mayhem and destroy lives and property. Foreign nationals were also allegedly involved in these unscrupulous acts.
Woji stated: "Preliminary investigations revealed that some of the suspects arrested were being recruited by financiers to cause mayhem and destroy lives and property.
"It is in the interest of justice to grant this request by freezing the accounts of the suspects and ordering their immediate arrest upon sighting them, pending the outcome of the investigation and possible prosecution."
