15th February, 2025
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan has reaffirmed his claim that Nigerian officials demanded millions of dollars in bribes from him, but he now seeks to move past the ordeal.
In a series of posts on X on Friday, Gambaryan had maintained that certain Nigerian lawmakers solicited substantial bribes in cryptocurrency, alleging that three legislators requested $150 million.
He also accused National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu of demanding significant payouts from Binance to fund his political ambitions.
The Nigerian government has firmly denied these allegations, dismissing them as “outrageous falsehoods.”
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, condemned Gambaryan’s claims as “misleading, defamatory, and entirely unsubstantiated,” urging the public to disregard them.
In a post on X on Saturday, Gambaryan described his experience in Nigeria as agonising for him and his family.
He insisted that his statements were based on firsthand encounters and were meant to fill gaps in reports by Wired and NPR.
“What I shared was meant to provide clarity on details left out by the media,” he wrote, adding that both Nigerian and U.S. law enforcement agencies had been briefed on his account.
Gambaryan lamented the impact on his loved ones, particularly his elderly mother, wife, and children.
“I don’t want to see my kids cry because I’m not around. I don’t want to see my 75-year-old mother in tears on television. I don’t want to see my wife breaking down on TV,” he said.
After years of working in law enforcement, he expressed a desire to move forward, stating that the responsibility for justice now rests with authorities in Nigeria and the U.S.
