Yuki Gambaryan, the wife of Tigran Gambaryan, the detained Binance executive, has again called on President Bola Tinubu’s government and President Joe Biden’s administration to release her husband. 

“It is time for the Nigerian authorities to do the right thing and release my innocent husband,” Mrs Gambaryan said in a statement on Thursday.

She said Mr Gambaryan’s prolonged detention had persisted despite Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service recently dropping charges, urging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to drop all charges against her husband.

In her appeal, Ms Gambaryan called upon the U.S. government to intervene “forcefully,” highlighting the annual financial support provided to Nigeria through American taxpayer monies.

“I am also once again calling on the U.S. government to intervene more forcefully. Tigran’s and my own tax dollars get sent to Nigeria in aid every year. Nigeria is supposed to be an ally,” Ms Gambaryan said. “I refuse to believe that our State Department cannot do more to have an innocent American citizen released.”

United States lawmakers condemned Mr Gambaryan’s detention for over 100 days since February 26, when he and Nadeem Anjarwalla visited Nigeria on NSA Nuhu Ribadu’s invitation.

In a letter dated June 4, 16 Republican congressmen charged President Joe Biden to intervene for the release of Mr Gambaryan, arguing that charges against him by Nigerian authorities were baseless and constituted a coercion tactic by the Tinubu government to extort Binance.

However, Mr Tinubu’s government denied holding Mr Gambaryan hostage, accusing Binance of illegal operation in Nigeria, fuelling the country’s economic crisis.