A call has gone out for the arrest and prosecution of Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami over alleged involvement in cryptocurrency trading despite government ban.
The call was made by ex-presidential aide, Reno Omokri who revealed an icon spotted on the screenshot shared by Malami after deactivating his Twitter account.
As earlier reported by Naija News, Malami had taken to Facebook to share a screenshot of his phone screen to confirm to Nigerians that he had deactivated his Twitter handle in compliance with the controversial ban of Twitter in Nigeria by the federal government.
However, an icon said to be that of popular cryptocurrency, LAtoken was seen in the screenshot shared by Malami.
Malami Phone screenshot
This led to a call by Omokri for Malami to be arrested and prosecuted for cryptocurrency trading as it will be recalled that the federal government earlier in the year had banned cryptocurrency transactions in the country.
Omokri in a series of tweets in which he also called for Malami’s resignation wrote: “AGF Malami has been caught red handed with proof that he dabbles in #Bitcoin trading through @latokens in violation of the law he banning #Cryptocurrency. He must address this issue. The Buhari regime must not sweep this under the carpet”
“If the Chief Law Enforcer of the Buhari government is himself trading in Bitcoin, as can be clearly seen by the LAToken icon on the screenshot he released showing he has deactivated his Twitter account, then he must apologise and step down”
“Attached is prima facie proof Buhari’s AGF, Malami, trades in #Bitcoin. Why else would he have a #Cryptocurrency app @latokens) on his phone? This is a violation of the law and he must be investigated and prosecuted. Highly hypocritical”
“My counsel to Nigerians is continue trading #Bitcoin and use a VPN. If Buhari’s Attorney General, Malami, who is meant to enforce the ban on #Crypto, is himself trading in it, then @officialEFCC should arrest him before they arrest you.”
Meanwhile, the United States Government has asked the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to immediately reverse the indefinite suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria.
Naija News reports that this was made known in a statement on Wednesday by an administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, Samantha Power.
The US official stated that Twitter has over 40 million users in Nigeria adding that the country is home to Africa’s largest tech hub.
She described the suspension by the Nigerian government as nothing more than state-sanctioned denial of free speech.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News