Nigeria’s former head of state, Yakubu Gowon, has dismissed allegations made on the floor of the UK parliament that he looted half of the Central Bank of Nigeria, calling the claim “rubbish.”
Tom Tugendhat, a member of the United Kingdom parliament, had accused Gowon of looting Nigeria’s treasury when he left office.
Speaking at the UK parliament committee debate on a petition on the #EndSARS crisis, Tugendhat had urged the UK to call out corruption and use its powers to stop who profit from Nigeria’s wealth and hide it in foreign countries.
The lawmaker told his colleagues, “Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half of the Central Bank, so it is said, and moved to London.”
Reacting to the weighty allegation against him, Gowon told BBC: “I don’t know where he got that rubbish from, I served Nigeria diligently and my records are there for all to see”.
“What the MP said was just mere ridicule and I don’t know as to where he cooked up such statement. I served Nigeria as much as I could and my achievements during those years are available to everyone.
“I don’t want to talk over the matter since those who know me very well say that the MP’s statement is nothing but a mere fallacy”.
Gowon was Nigeria’s military head of state from 1966 to 1975 and lead the Army during the Nigeria-Biafra War.
