TO all intents and purposes, the recent escape of Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan dual national and top executive of the global cryptocurrency firm Binance, from custody in Nigeria is a logical corollary of the shabby attitude of the Nigerian authorities to security. Securrity of life and property is the raison d’etre of the state but it is the very issue with which Nigeria’s leaders habitually play pingpong. Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa Regional Manager, was arrested on February 26 with his US colleague Tigran Gambaryan, the officer in charge of the firm’s financial crime compliance, for alleged financial crimes by Binance, but he reportedly fled Nigeria after security operatives granted him permission to pray at a nearby mosque, allegedly with a “smuggled passport”, although a family source was quoted as saying, rather cheekily, that he had left the shores of the country “by lawful means”. The escape shocked the nation, as the fleeing executive was said to have been kept in a ‘safe house’. The security guards on duty were promptly detained. Following the incident, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said that the country was”working with Interpol for an international arrest warrant on the suspect”. Binance, on its part, said it had been “made aware that Nadeem is no longer in Nigerian custody,” adding: “Our primary focus remains on the safety of our employees and we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue.” The Federal Government has since issued a warrant for Anjarwalla’s arrest.
Truth be told, this incident is as shameful as it is tragic, being an indictment on Nigeria’s entire security apparatus. While it is true that the Binance executives came to Nigeria on invitation and were detained following the developments that took place after the authorities reportedly asked them to name the Nigerians trading on Binance’s platform, Anjarwalla’s escape from lawful custody cannot be justified under any guise. In the first instance, Nigeria is a democratically run state and while there may be questions about the justice system, there is no doubt that it still provides the surest means of addressing any real or perceived abuse of human rights in the country. That being the case, Mr Anjarwalla would have been well within his rights if he had chosen to approach the court of law to seek relief if he felt that his rights had been trampled upon. That is the civilised thing to do and the fact that he chose a criminal course of action, enabled by local saboteurs, says a lot about the kind of character that he is and how he runs his business as a Binance executive. But all of that would have been quite irrelevant if the saboteurs who enabled his escape had not played their dirty game.
The Anjarwalla incident is a terrible verdict on the Nigerian security apparatus and consequently the integrity of the Nigerian state. There is no doubt that other suspects, encouraged by his crime, will try to pull the same kind of stunt sometime in the future. The Nigerian state has been mocked by this incident. It has been made a laughing stock and every last person involved in the dastardly episode must be fished out and treated with the strictest measures provided by the laws of the land. Pray, in which other country does an individual accused of monumental crimes escape to other jurisdictions in that cavalier manner? Anjarwalla’s escape is a national embarrassment. It underscores the severe weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. There is too much room for compromise by unscrupulous officials put in strategic positions and this, coupled with the failure of the system to fully apply sanctions as required by the law, is the reason monumental crimes will continue to be committed against the Nigerian people who have been left to bear the brunt of the failure by politicians.
One unfortunate issue thrown up by the incident is the issue of religion. A top retired naval officer is on record as complaining that the gates of one of Nigeria’s premier military institution are habitually thrown open on Fridays in observance of the Jumat prayer, a practice which is demonstrably dangerous, but some individuals read sinister meanings to his patriotic and commonsensical observation on account of his religious leaning. If anything, the Anjarwalla case has validated the officer’s pertinent observation. Why should a suspect, especially a flight risk, be allowed to observe prayers without any surveillance? Yes, even convicts cannot be denied their right to prayer observance, but they are never given the latitude to use it as an opportunity to escape lawful custody. While we appreciate Nigeria’s deeply religious climate, we are under no obligation to endorse the pernicious practice of relaxing security arrangements on account of religion. It is not every person on a prayer line that is pious and law-abiding, focused at that moment only on the spiritual exercise.
That the current incident shows the level of vulnerability in the system and the Nigerian state is not in doubt. Though there have been cases where high-profile individuals undermined the system even in the saner climes, similar occurrences in Nigeria are most startling and curious because of the chain of accomplices in official quarters and critical national institutions. That is why those behind the current case must be fished out and dealt with decisively to serve as deterrent to the bad eggs that are still in the system. Not doing so can only worsen the country’s already battered image.
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