Gowon: Allegation of looting Nigeria’s treasury is baseless

A former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has described the allegation that he looted half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as “rubbish”.

A member of the United Kingdom parliament, Tom Tugendhat, 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. But Tugendhat did not provide any evidence to support his claim.

In reaction to the remark, 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, including during the time of the oil boom