Mr. Olubukola Akinwumi, Deputy Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), explained on Friday how Nigerians trading on Binance Holdings Limited’s platform use false names in the transactions.

Olubukola, who is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s 2nd prosecution witness (PW-2) in the ongoing trial of Binance and its executive, Tigran Gambaryan, told Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja while giving his testimony.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC has filed a five-count charge against Binance and Gambaryan (1st and 2nd defendants) bordering on money laundering offences.

The anti-graft agency had accused Binance and Gambaryan of money laundering involving $35.4 million.

Besides, the company was under suspicion of alleged terrorism financing.

Led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, on Friday, Akinwumi, who heads the Payment Policy and Regulation Division in the Payments System Management Department of CBN, said the apex bank did not issue any licence to the cryptocurrency firm to operate in Nigeria.

“In the course of carrying out our operations, we normally monitor development within the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission); monitoring the activities of payment service providers and the usage of the payment system.

“We observed, in doing that, that Binance provides a trading platform where users trade virtual assets.

“And to consummate their transactions for the purpose of settlement of payments, the users make use of the payment system for the purpose of transferring or making payment to one another.

“These traders normally trade in pseudo names (pseudonyms) that hide their identities and they are not authorised by the CBN,” he said.

The PW-2 described virtual assets as “digital representations of values created by computer systems that can be digitally traded, transferred or used in payments.”

He said they discovered that users of the platform received and made payments or transferred payments to one another using the payment system to consummate transactions on the Binance peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.

“Binance Platform provides a trading place or marketplace for traders and users of virtual assets, otherwise known as cryptocurrency.

“The platform also provides other services like electronic wallets fiat wallet, publishing of exchange rate, etc,” he told the court.

Asked where the activities of Binance are carried out, Akinwumi said its “activities are conducted on its website; binance.com and through its mobile apps (applications).

“They have two variations of Binance Apps; Binance Pro or Binnace Lite.”

Asked what P2P means, the witness said: “P2P means Peer to Peer, and for basic translation, it can also mean person to person.

“What that means is that if a particular user does not want to trade with the platform but rather will like to trade with another user, P2P is a service that brings such two users as described to engage each other in transacting for the purpose of buying or selling virtual asset, cryptocurrency and fiat directly between the two users.

“This is done by quoting rates with offers to sell or buy at the quoted rate.

“The P2P Platform of Binance provides such service to such two users to come to an agreement on such trade.

“Once such understanding for the trade is reached by the two users on Binance platform, the selling party will provide a bank account to which the buying party can send the naira amount or transfer into the account provided by the selling party.

“Once the buying party transferred the amount agreed, he clicks on a particular icon on the Binance platform to communicate the fiat that he has transferred the amount to the selling party.

“The Binance platform will, on the side of the selling party, await confirmation based on which it will release the cryptocurrency or fiat currency traded on the platform.

“So the Binance platform facilitates all the processes or P2P transactions as I have just enumerated, either using a Nigerian bank account already stored by users on the Binance platform or the naira wallet account, provided by the Binance platform.”

Submission of certified true copies of documents made available to SEC by Binance which was equally made available to the investigating team at the office of the National Security Adviser, and pages generated on the firm’s website were tendered in evidence and marked as Exhibits 8 and 9 by the judge.

Taking the witness through Exhibits 8 and 9, Iheanacho asked him to tell the court more about the nature of the transactions.

Akinwumi said Page 2 of Exhibit 8 introduced Binance as the world’s leading crypto exchange with users from over 190 countries.

“They have on the page, the address of the website in full which is Https://www.binance.com.

“Binance has what is called Binance Academy. That is on page 16 of Exhibit 8.

“Some of the videos will be on their YouTube platform which they use in educating those who are interested in the services that they provide,” he said.

The PW-2 said the firm equally has Binance coins and that on its website, it gives the description of the coin as “NGN” (Naira).

“On page 21 of Exhibit 8, it listed the ways to use Binance coin,” he added.

Akinwumi said on Page 9 of Exhibit 9, there is information which reads: “Depositing and withdrawing NGN (Naira) on Binance via cash link; it is swift and simple.”

The witness, however, explained that depositing and withdrawing Naira which “NGN” stands for, is a regulated activity carried out by banks and other financial institutions duly registered by CBN.

He said another piece of information on Exhibit 9 reads: “To help Binance users in Nigeria understand this Fiat Gateway, Binance has been holding various events such as the Binance Cash Link, Live Master Class to educate users on cash link and why it is an excellent method of deposit and withdrawal on the Binance platform.”

“Generally, Exhibit 9 explains to Nigerians on how to deposit Naira on the Nigerians wallet on the Binance platform.”

He said there is a statement on a page which says “Binance does not charge deposit fees,” he said next to the statement, there is another message which says: “For each withdrawal, a flat fee is paid by users to cover the transaction cost of moving the cryptocurrency out of their Binance account.

“So as I explained earlier, Binance maintains accounts and it needs revenue for its services

“On Page 2 of Exhibit 9, under the Fiat Section, it shows the rates that are applied for regular users.”

After concluding his evidence, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until July 16 for cross-examination of PW-2.

Sophia Momodu, the mother of David Adeleke’s daughter, has told a Lagos State High Court sitting in Sabo, Yaba, not to grant the child’s custody to the musician.

Momodu told the court on Friday that the applicant was not fit to be granted custody of their daughter because he is always unavailable and does not possess the ability to dutifully care for her.

READ ALSO: Davido Takes Sophia Momodu to Court Over Custody of Daughter, Imade

She stated this in a counter-affidavit she filed in opposition to Davido’s suit seeking custody.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that contrary to Davido’s claim that he had consistently fulfilled his financial obligations towards his daughter, Momodu told the court that the child was almost sent away from school because the artist refused to pay her tuition fees.

According to her, while their relationship lasted, Davido never showed true commitment or love towards their daughter.

“He always used the condition of my making myself available for his sexual pleasures, as a pre-condition to visit our daughter or show some fatherly love to her.

“The applicant, apart from his cravings for sex, only comes around to spend time with our daughter when he wants to use our daughter for his media stunts or promotions.

“The applicant has always been known to go away and stop communicating with our daughter, to stop making payments for school fees and/or maintenance for our daughter, whenever I refused his sexual advances,” she stated.

The respondent stated that Davido once threw her and their daughter out of his home in Atlanta, US, during a summer holiday in 2017 and they ended up squatting with a friend.

READ ALSO:‘I was feeling terrible’ in debate, Biden says in TV interview

Momodu stated that she never denied Davido access to his daughter and that it was he, who chose to be “an absentee father.”

She added that she had been responsible for her accommodation and that the artiste had always had access to their daughter until he chose to abuse it by visiting at odd hours to demand sex.

“When I noticed that the intention of the applicant for coming late at night to my house was not to visit our daughter, but to seek sexual favours, even after our relationship had ended, I told him to desist from such late-night visits, as our daughter who needed to be in school in the morning would have slept at the time of his late-night visits.

“It was when I refused the applicant’s ingress into my house at ungodly hours of the night on the pretext of visiting our daughter that he decided to stop visiting or calling our daughter and this has been the pattern with the applicant all through his relationship with our daughter.

“Whenever I refused to be his sex slave, he would stop caring for his daughter and abandon her and use the fact of our daughter’s sadness due to his absence to force me to accede to his unwholesome demands.

“I have never stopped the applicant or his family members from coming to visit his daughter, calling or reconnecting with our daughter,” she stated.

The respondent again stated that contrary to Davido’s claim, he has not been faithful in paying their daughter’s school fees, having defaulted in 2021 and 2022, with the school writing to her in January 2023, over unpaid tuition.

“The school wrote via email notifying me that our daughter will not be allowed entry into the school, except all outstanding fees from 2021 to 2023, were paid off,” she said.

Momodu told the court that it was Davido’s father who intervened and paid the school fees.

She stated that contrary to Davido’s claim, she has been the one paying the rent of the apartment where she lives with her daughter, adding that Davido did not buy any house for them.

Momodu said she has been providing the best care for her daughter, in spite of her father’s negligence and will continue to do so, as a loving mother.

The respondent was represented at Friday’s proceedings before Justice A. J. Bashua, by a legal team led by Chief (Dr) Anthony Idigbe (SAN) of Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors.

Chief Idigbe drew attention to the publication of a hearing notice in a national newspaper by Davido’s legal team, in which the name of his daughter was mentioned four times.
The judge agreed with Chief Idigbe that while the press was free to report, the child’s name ought not to be mentioned at all.

The judge then asked members of the press, litigants and all other counsel not involved in the case, to leave the courtroom during the hearing.

Before they left, Chief Idigbe, with the court’s permission, drew the attention of members of the press to Section 143 of the Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State 2015.

It provides that in a case involving a minor, “No person must be allowed to attend court, other than the members and officers of the court and the parties to the case.

It also provides that their solicitors and counsel, parents and guardians of the child and other persons directly concerned in the case were free to be allowed in.”

Chief Idigbe also referred to Section 144 of the law, which prohibits the publication of a child’s name.

The section reads: “No person must publish the name, address, school, photograph, or anything likely to lead to the identification of a child in a matter before the court, except as required by the provisions of this law.”

The SAN further referred to Section 145 of the Child Rights Law, which provides: “The proceedings in the court must be conducive to the best interest of the child and must be conducted in an atmosphere of understanding, allowing the child to express himself and participate in the proceedings.”

Momodu, in the counter-affidavit, also faulted the publication of the suit in a national newspaper.

“The applicant (Davido) publishing this suit in a national newspaper has exposed our daughter to great danger.

“I would have to implement extra security measures to ensure the continued safety of our daughter in school,” she stated.

At the end of the proceedings, it was learned that the court referred the case for possible settlement by the Alternative Dispute Resolution section of the court during Settlement Week.

Joe Biden vowed Friday to stay in the White House race and blamed his dismal debate performance on “feeling terrible” due to a cold, as he sought to save his reelection campaign with a make-or-break TV interview.

As rebellion brews among some nervous Democratic voters, lawmakers and donors, the one-to-one with the ABC network was hyped as the most consequential of the 81-year-old’s long career.

“I was sick, I was feeling terrible… We were trying to figure out what’s wrong,” the president said in an excerpt of his first TV interview since the debate with Donald Trump.

“They did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, you know, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold.”

Biden sounded raspy and gave meandering answers in the clip, which appeared unlikely to reassure Democrats.

The Trump campaign offered a lightning-quick mocking reaction, posting on X that “Biden sounds great!”

The sit-down — which was due to be aired in full later Friday, came after Biden’s debate in Atlanta triggered panic within his party and calls for him to pull out of the race.

The Biden campaign has pushed back hard on any suggestion he may withdraw and, just hours before the ABC interview, released an aggressive campaign travel schedule for the rest of July.

Appearing at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, the president delivered an energetic stump speech, unequivocally declaring, “I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump.”

As supporters cheered, he went on the attack against his rival.

• -Polls tip toward Trump –
  “Let’s focus on what really matters,” Biden said, reading from teleprompters. “We’re running against the biggest liar and the biggest threat… to our democracy in American history — that’s not hyperbole.”

Post-debate polls have shown a widening deficit in Trump’s favor, and at least three Democrats in Congress have called on Biden to step aside, as have several major newspapers and a raft of Democratic-supporting political commentators.

Wealthy Disney heiress and Democratic supporter Abigail Disney, told CNBC she plans to withhold donations to the party until Biden drops out, saying bluntly that “if Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose” in November.

“This is realism, not disrespect,” she said.

Senate Intelligence Committee chariman Mark Warner has approached fellow Democrats to organize talks on Monday on Biden’s path forward, multiple US media outlets reported.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was convening his own meeting — a video call with senior Democrats — on Sunday, according to NBC News.

Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential Democratic voices, has deemed it “essential” he do more major interviews to prove himself.

The White House has announced he will hold a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington next Thursday, but has not revealed any details on its format or length.

Biden’s travel plans include Pennsylvania this weekend, then the NATO meeting, and back on the campaign trail with a swing through the American Southwest.

The president will “engage in frequent off-the-cuff moments over the course of the month, as he has consistently throughout this campaign,” his team said, seeking to emphasize his folksy charm.

Trump has meanwhile dared Biden to another debate, or an “all-on discussion,” saying he was ready “anytime, anywhere, any place.”

With speculation swirling over a potential switch in the Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris, the nation’s first female vice president, has suddenly been in the spotlight.

The 59-year-old former prosecutor has offered unwavering support for Biden in public but is standing by as a leading alternative if he steps aside.

The Catholic Church is to pay 104 million Canadian dollars ($76 million) to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse from eastern Canada, according to a statement released Friday.

In 2020 the Archdiocese of St. John was found liable for one of Canada’s largest child sex abuse scandals, at Mount Cashel Orphanage, a now-defunct boy’s orphanage in Newfoundland and Labrador province.

The court found sexual abuse was perpetrated by priests and other church officials at the orphanage starting in 1940 and continued over the course of several decades.

A total of 292 victims will receive payouts ranging from 55,000 to 850,000 Canadian dollars, according to the report seen by AFP.

Accounting firm Ernst & Young has been tapped as a third-party intermediary to determine the amount distributed to each victim.

Geoff Budden, one of the attorneys representing the victims, told AFP the amount was in line with “similar compensation from other courts.”

“People didn’t really grasp the scale of the problem and how widespread the abuse was,” he said.

The Archdiocese of St. John declared bankruptcy in 2021, though it has raised 40 million Canadian dollars through selling buildings that belonged to it.

However, Budden said he is optimistic that the victims will receive the full amount awarded by the court.

“There are still assets that need to be processed, including insurance products,” he said.

If you’re a Nigerian looking to dive into the world of remote work, you’re in luck. There are tons of websites out there where you can land amazing remote job opportunities. Whether you’re a tech wizard, a creative genius, or a marketing guru, there’s something for everyone. Let’s walk through the top 15 websites that can help you find remote jobs from Nigeria.

1. Upwork

Website: Upwork

Upwork is like the go-to place for freelancers everywhere. You create a profile, list your skills, and start bidding on projects. From writing and graphic design to web development, there’s a huge variety of jobs. It’s a fantastic platform to connect with clients from all over the world.

2. Freelancer

Website: Freelancer

Freelancer is pretty similar to Upwork. You can bid on projects across different categories. It’s a great place to find remote jobs for Nigeria and connect with international employers. Plus, the variety of job categories means there’s always something new popping up.

3. Fiverr

Website: Fiverr

Fiverr is unique because you can offer your services starting at just $5. It’s perfect for creative services like graphic design, writing, and video editing. Create a profile, list your gigs, and attract clients who need your skills. It’s a fun way to showcase what you’re good at and get paid for it.

4. Remote OK

Website: Remote OK

Remote OK is a job board that specializes in remote job listings. You’ll find jobs in tech, marketing, customer support, and more. It’s user-friendly and updated regularly, so you’ll always have fresh opportunities to explore.

5. We Work Remotely

Website: We Work Remotely

This site is all about remote work. We Work Remotely has job listings in programming, design, copywriting, and customer service. It’s a go-to resource for finding legit remote jobs that fit your skills.

6. FlexJobs

Website: FlexJobs

FlexJobs is a subscription service that offers curated job listings for remote and flexible work. They vet their job postings to ensure legitimacy, so you can trust the opportunities you find here. It covers a wide range of industries too!

7. LinkedIn

Website: LinkedIn

LinkedIn isn’t just for networking—it’s also great for finding remote jobs. Optimize your profile, connect with professionals in your field, and check out the remote job listings. It’s a fantastic way to network and discover job opportunities.

8. Toptal

Website: Toptal

Toptal is for the top freelancers out there. If you’re highly skilled, you can connect with high-quality clients looking for professionals in software development, design, and finance. They have a rigorous screening process, but it’s worth it for the premium remote job opportunities.

9. Well Found: (Formerly Angelist)

Website: Well Found:

AngelList is a hub for startup jobs. If you love the startup scene, this is the place to find remote job listings in tech, marketing, and more. It’s a great platform for discovering early-stage companies looking for talented professionals.

10. Remote.co

Website: Remote.co

Remote.co focuses on remote job listings and provides resources to help you succeed in remote work. Whether you’re in customer service, HR, or IT, you’ll find a variety of job categories here. Plus, their insights on remote work best practices are super helpful.

11. Hubstaff Talent

Website: Hubstaff Talent

Hubstaff Talent is a free resource where companies find remote talent. It’s great for long-term remote work opportunities across different fields. You can showcase your skills and previous work experience to attract employers.

12. JustRemote

Website: JustRemote

JustRemote is a platform that specializes in remote job listings across various industries. It’s easy to navigate and you can find opportunities in tech, marketing, design, and more. They offer a clear listing of remote jobs without the clutter, making your job search straightforward.

13. Jobspresso

Website: Jobspresso

Jobspresso is a curated job board for remote jobs. They feature opportunities in tech, marketing, customer support, and more. The site is known for quality job listings and an easy-to-use interface.

14. PeoplePerHour

Website: PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour is another freelance marketplace connecting businesses with freelancers globally. You can find jobs in writing, web development, design, and more. It’s a great way to find freelance work that fits your schedule.

15. SimplyHired

Website: SimplyHired

SimplyHired is a job search engine that aggregates listings from various sources. By filtering for remote jobs, you can discover opportunities across different industries. It’s a convenient way to find remote jobs that match your skills and interests.

Other Notable Mentions:

Glassdoor: Known for company reviews, it also lists remote job opportunities.

Indeed: A global job search engine with a specific filter for remote jobs.

Dribbble: Ideal for designers looking for remote gigs.

GitHub Jobs: Perfect for developers seeking remote opportunities.

Stack Overflow Jobs: Another great platform for developers.

Tips for Success

1. Optimize Your Profile: Highlight your skills, experience, and any relevant certifications.
2. Tailor Applications: Customize each job application to match the job description and demonstrate how your skills align with the employer’s needs.
3. Network Actively: Engage with professionals in your field on LinkedIn and other platforms to uncover hidden job opportunities.
4. Build a Portfolio: Showcase your previous work to give potential employers a sense of your capabilities and experience.

Conclusion

With the right approach and by utilizing these 15 websites, you can successfully land remote jobs that offer flexibility and the opportunity to work with international clients. Each platform has its unique features and advantages, so explore them to find the best fit for your skills and career aspirations. By leveraging these resources, you can effectively find remote jobs from Nigeria, remote jobs in the USA, and other opportunities that align with your professional goals. Happy job hunting!