Yabuku Gowon Responds To Allegation Of Leaving Office With The Half Of CBN

On Monday, allegations that General Yakubu Gowon, laundered money when he was leaving office went viral on social media, now the Former Head of State has responded, dismissing the accusations in a new interview.

Recall that a member of the United Kingdom lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, had accused General Gowon of looting half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and some other leaders in Nigeria of robbing the people during a debate on a petition on #EndSARS at the UK parliament, adding that British banks were used for illegal transfer of assets.

Reacting the allegations on Channels TV Thursday, the elder statesman condemned the claims, stating that it was disappointing that a British parliamentarian could make such a statement without checking the facts.

“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,” the former Nigerian leader said via telephone.

The 86-year-old insisted that there was no time when he was held or questioned for money laundering, stressing that the allegation that he looted the nation’s treasury was false. 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 also called on the UK government to take the necessary step to order, stressing that making an allegation of such was an insult to him and Nigeria as a nation.

“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,” the former General who served as the Head of State from 1966 to 1975 said.

He added, “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.”