Families in disarray as Tinubu’s government continues hostage of Binance’s executives
The families of Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla, held hostage by the Nigerian government, have been thrown into anxiety and frustration, wondering what would become of the duo over their prolonged detention without any charge.
Messrs Gambaryan and Anjarwalla packed light bags and travelled down to Nigeria on February 25 to honour an invitation from the Nigerian government over controversies that linked Binance to the steep plunge of the naira.
The day after their arrival, both men were whisked from their hotel rooms and taken to a government “guest house,” where they have since been confined against their will. Their travel passports have also been confiscated.
With no criminal charge filed against them, their families are completely at sea and extremely distressed as to why the Nigerian authorities have held them hostage and for how long the incarceration would last.
Mr Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki, has described the last two weeks as the “hardest days of her life.” She said her two children (a four-year-old and a 10-year-old) have become relentless in asking when daddy will return, a question to which she has no answer.
She said the situation had gotten so intense that her four-year-old now spent time in Mr Gambaryan’s home office because “it smells like daddy.”
“My youngest asks when daddy is coming home every day, going into Tigran’s home office because it smells like daddy,” Wall Street Journal quoted Ms Gambaryan to have said.
The wife of the Binance executive further stressed being emotionally drained and worried that she might never see her husband again.
“Sometimes it feels like I’ll never see him again,” Ms Gambaryan told WSJ. “I’m just begging them (the Nigerian government) to let him go.
Ms Gambaryan said she could sense her husband was frightened by the situation from the few daily messages he was allowed to send under the strict supervision of the security operatives.
“I can tell he’s trying to stay positive, but it’s getting to him. He’s getting impatient, he’s feeling hopeless,” Ms Gambaryan told Wired.
Mr Anjarwalla’s wife, Elahe, expressed worry about her husband, a Muslim, observing Ramadan in detention.
She expressed her concerns that their son would be a year old in a matter of weeks and worried whether her husband would be around to see their child celebrate his first birthday.
“Nadeem is a loving husband and father. He is my best friend,” Ms Anjarwalla said in a statement obtained by Wired. “All I want is for Nadeem to be allowed to come back home to us.”
Further compounding the matter was that the two weeks the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said were required to conduct investigations on the duo elapsed on Monday. But the government has remained mum on whether or not Messrs Gambaryan and Anjarwalla would be allowed to return to their countries.
Representatives of the U.S. Department of State and the UK’s Home Office have visited their citizens held hostage by the Nigerian government under the watchful eyes of the Nigerian security agents.
It is unclear if any decisions have been reached to negotiate their freedom.
