Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has denied ‘looting half of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),’ saying he is not guilty of the money laundering allegation against him by a member of the British parliament.
General Gowon was accused by UK lawmaker, Tom Tugendhat, on Monday during the hearing of a petition against the Nigerian government at a committee meeting of the parliament.
The UK lawmaker said General Gowon, who ruled Nigeria from 1966 to 1975 went away with half of the funds in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The former head of state responded saying that he was disappointed over the allegation. He said on a Channels Television interview that “It is certainly surprising, and I am disappointed that a British parliamentarian could make such a statement without checking the facts of what he was saying.
“I honestly was disappointed that such a remark is made.” In the interview, he said that there was no time when he was held or questioned for money laundering.
General Gowon, who said he heard about the allegation from social media, insisted that there was nothing to hide and the record was there for the lawmaker and the British authorities to check.
He said, “The record of my service to the nation is there for everybody to see and even the British government itself, and I don’t know why somebody got the information to make such a very ridiculous statement.
“I am disappointed with that one and I hope the British authority will do something to rightly bring that parliamentarian to order to check his facts before he makes such allegation because it is more or less an insult to the leadership of Nigeria and certainly an insult to me to say that I did something of the sort to take half of Nigeria’s Central Bank and I must have put it in a British bank.”
“So, he should check all the British banks to see whether any such thing has happened, and he (the UK lawmaker) will be surprised that I was not being held for money laundering.”