General Yakubu Gowon, a former Head of State, has blown his top over what seems a sweeping generalisation made by British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Tom Tugendhat. He alleged that Gowon looted the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Gowon, however, responded in an exclusive interview with the BBC, describing the allegations as rubbish. In his words: “What the MP said is rubbish. I don’t know where he got that rubbish from, I served Nigeria diligently and my records are there for all to see.
“I did not want to speak on this issue because people that know me know that what the MP said is not true” he said
The MP, on Monday, 23 November, contributed to a debate in the UK parliament on imposition of sanctions on Nigerian Government officials “involved in the shooting incident that occurred during the Endsars protest in Lekki on 20 October.”
Then Tugendhat went ballistic, asking his Britain to place sanctions on Nigerians who flee to the UK with ill-gotten wealth, beginning from Nigeria’s former military ruler, Yakubu Gowon, who allegedly looted the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said: “What we are seeing in Nigeria today is part of that story. It is a tragedy we are all witnessing because we see things falling apart.
“The problem this time is not foreign pressure known as colonialism. The pressure instead is corruption and violence and attempts at control (of power).
“We need to call out the corruption, we need to use the powers that we have in this country to stop those who are profiting from the wealth of that great nation and hiding it here.
“Now some people will remember when general Gowon left Nigeria, he took half of the Central Bank, so it is said, and moved to London.
“We know today, even now in this great city of ours, there are sadly some people who have taken the wealth of Nigerian people and hidden their ill-gotten gains here.
“We know that our banks sadly have been used for that profit or that illegal transfer of asset and that means that the UK is in a unique position in being able to actually do something to really exert pressure on those who have robbed Nigerians.”