Federal Government Clampdown on #EndSARS Leaders

#EndSARS front runners have noticed their bank accounts are being frozen by various banks on the order of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The #EndSARS promoters, who had spoken with the Punch, said their financial institutions informed them that the apex bank had instructed them to freeze their accounts.

Nigerian youths had raised a huge amount of money through various bank accounts in an effort to sustain a nationwide protest against the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in October.

However, their efforts were truncated by security operatives who shot at peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020. Several reports have said youths were killed while Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos had claimed on two people died.

It now appears like a planned strategy to go after each everyone involved in the peaceful protest after successfully surprising a genuine call for help by the largest youth population in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

Bassey Israel, a pharmacist who was in charge of the #EndSARS medical team in Port Harcourt, said his bank account with Access Bank has been frozen since October 15.

He said, “I am in charge of End SARS medical team in Port Harcourt and we had people donating for medical supplies, food, water, ambulance services and these donations were made directly into my account and of course these donations had End SARS descriptions so I think that was how they were able to flag my account. I noticed that on October 15, I was trying to make a debit transaction on my account and noticed that there was a restriction.

“So, I called the bank and I was told that there was indeed a restriction but I should go to any branch near me and when I did so, the branch manager sent a mail to the branch where I opened the account. The response to the mail was that there was a directive from the CBN to restrict the account.

“The lady was surprised and even asked me if I had any issue with the CBN and I responded that if I had any issue with the CBN, I wouldn’t be in the bank in the first place, I would be on the run. I asked what could be done and she gave me no answer. She had to show me the mail on her computer which I read. It was directly from the CBN and it read, ‘Place this account on PND.”

When Israel was asked if others had a similar issue, he said “I know many persons that have this same challenge.”

Others like Modupe Odele had their passport seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). While the NIS officers did not disclose the reason for their actions, people familiar with the operating tactics have linked it to her role in the #EndSARS protest.

Odele said, “For my birthday, I had planned a trip to the Maldives. It was really for a break as the events of the last three weeks have exhausted my mind and body in a way I have never been exhausted in my life.

“I went to the airport, passed through immigration, and while I was putting my bags through the body and baggage scanner, the immigration officer who had previously cleared me, called me back. He told me he had orders from above to detain me.

“Okay, at this point I’m like excuse me, my flight is in an hour. On what grounds are you detaining me?” He didn’t respond. Instead, he goes to his computer where he typed in my name, and something that looked like a ‘wanted poster’ popped up on the portal.

“He blocked my view so I couldn’t see most of it but I saw some of it. And it read something like – ‘This person is under investigation by XYZ Intelligence Agency. If seen, they should be apprehended on sight.’”