The Federal Government has withdrawn charges filed against 21 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators recently arrested at Alade Market, Lagos, CITY LAWYER can authoritatively report.

When the matter came up for arraignment of the foreign exchange operators, the Prosecutor, ASP Umaru Bello told the court that the Federal Government was desirous of withdrawing the charges.

Lead Counsel for the defendants, Mr. Chino Obiagwu SAN did not object to the application by the prosecutor. The charges titled Charge No: FHC/L/C/133C/2024 were struck out by Justice Lewis Allagoa.

It was however unclear at press time whether the arrested persons would again be charged to court, as they were taken back into detention at the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti , Lagos.

One of the charges reads: “THAT YOU IBRAHIM JUBRIL ‘M,’ ABDULLAHI ABUBAKAR ‘M,’ IBRAHIM HASSAN ‘M,’ ADAMU ISIAKA ‘M,’ IBRAHIM ABDULRAHMAN ‘M,’ JUBRIL HASSAN ‘M,’ MOHAMMED ISIAKA ‘M,’ MOHAMMED AMINU ‘M,’ ADAMU IBRAHIM ‘M,’ HASSAN AHMADU ‘M,’ SALISU HAMIDU ‘M,’ MAHMOUD MOHAMMED ‘M,’ MURTALA USMAN ‘M,’ HASSAN YAKUBU BALGUDA ‘M,’ ABDULLAHI KABIRI MOHAMMED ‘M,’ ALI SADAM ‘M,’ AHAMADU YUSUF ‘M,’ ABDULLAHI HUSSAIN, ALHAJI SIDO AND OTHER (SIC) STILL AT LARGE ON OR BEFORE THE 21ST DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2024 WITHIN THE METROPOLIS OF LAGSO, NIGERIA WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA, DID INTENTIONALLY, KNOWINGLY/UNLAWFULLY CONSPIRES (SIC) WITH EACH OTHER AND OTHERS AT LARGE , TO OPERATE FOREX TRADINGS AS BUREAU DE CHANGE (BDC) WITHIN DESIGNATED STREETS IN LAGOS, WITHOUT DISPLAY/BEING IN POSSESSION OF LICENSE TO OPERATE SAME, AND THEREBY COMMITTED AN OFFENCE CONTRARY TO AND PUNISHABLE UNDER SECTION 17(a)(b)(c) OF THE MONEY LAUNDERING (PROHIBITION) ACT CAP. M18 LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA 2020.”

Following the free fall of the Naira, the Federal Government has unleashed a crack down on parallel market and bureau de change operators in a bid to contain the situation.

Some analysts have however queried the strategy, wondering whether it would solve the problem of general shortage of foreign currency which puts pressure on the Naira.

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