Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Justice John Tsoho on Tuesday said the court did not freeze bank accounts of #EndSARS protesters but those of corporate bodies under suspicion of money laundering.
He spoke in Abuja at a special court session to mark the beginning of the 2020 to 2021 legal year of the court.
The chief judge said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approached the court seeking an order to freeze certain accounts of corporate bodies and that names of individuals were not attached to the applications.
“I assigned those cases and no individual’s name was mentioned. “Three months before the protest, the CBN kept bringing applications, almost in their hundreds, based on what they call deliberate resolve to ruin the economy through money laundering.
“So if it was the #EndSARS people that were involved in the activity under cover, then it is unfortunate for people to begin to call and vilify the court, making damaging allegations against the court,” Tsoho said.
He maintained that if such steps had not been taken, the Nigerian economy would have collapsed.
The judge added that if any of the accounts belonged to any #EndSARS protester, it was mere coincidence.
Justice Tsoho’s claim contradicts those of some #EndSARS campaigners who confirmed from their banks that their accounts had been frozen by the CBN.
