Justice John Tsoho of The Federal High Court says bank accounts of #EndSARS protesters were accidentally frozen in the process of freezing accounts of corporate bodies suspected of money laundering.
Speaking at a special court session to mark the beginning of the 2020 to 2021 legal year of the court, Justice Tsoho said that those who made such allegations of the court freezing the accounts of #EndSars protesters were being uncharitable to the court.
According to him, the apex bank did not attach names of individuals to its application seeking to freeze certain accounts of corporate bodies.
“I assigned those cases and no individual’s name was mentioned,” Mr. Tsoho said. “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 undercover, then it is unfortunate for people to begin to call and vilify the court, making damaging allegations against the court,” he added.
He added that if any of the accounts belonged to any #EndSars protester, it was a mere coincidence.
The Heritage Times had reported how CBN governor Godwin Emefiele in an ex-parte order from the Abuja Division of the federal high court to freeze the accounts of 19 individuals and one company linked to #EndSARS protests.
The development drew widespread condemnation and was largely viewed as a deliberate crackdown on the protesters.
