Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, said the
30-minute phone call on Tuesday evening was against the backdrop of the release
of Gambaryan on October 23.
In April, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) arraigned Binance, a cryptocurrency firm, and Gambaryan, on allegations
of money laundering.
Gambaryan was in detention for eight months.
At a court hearing on October 23, the EFCC announced the
decision of the federal government to withdraw the charges against Gambaryan.
Tuggar said Biden was grateful for Gambaryan’s release.
“The two leaders exchanged pleasantries and President Biden
preceded to thank President Tinubu for his partnership and for Nigeria’s
partnership in particular the collaboration between the two countries with
regards to our law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as release
of one of the suspects of the cryptocurrency exchange company (Binance),” the
minister said.
Tuggar emphasised that the legal hurdles in the case were
only as a result of Nigeria “following due process and abiding by the rule of
law”.
“President Tinubu during the discussion even mentioned the
similarities of the fact that our system of government is very similar to the
United States system of government,” he said.
“We adopted our own system of government having gone back to
civilian constitution and democracy in 1999 by adopting a US-styled system of
government.
“So the rule of law is very important which is why we these
processes which the two leaders both assured that they will continue to
collaborate in that regard.”
Tuggar said both countries committed to sharing
intelligence, applying technology, supplying equipment, and kinetic and
non-kinetic training.