Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has dismissed the
\nallegations of money laundering leveled against him by a member of the
\nUnited Kingdom parliament.<\/p>\n
The elder statesman condemned the claims in an interview with Channels
\nTelevision on Thursday, three days after the UK lawmaker, Tom Tugendhat,
\naccused him of looting half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).<\/p>\n
He stated that it was disappointing that a British parliamentarian could
\nmake such a statement without checking the facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is certainly surprising, and I am disappointed that a British
\nparliamentarian could make such a statement without checking the facts
\nof what he was saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly was disappointed that such a remark is made,\u201d the former
\nNigerian leader told Channels Television London correspondent via
\ntelephone.<\/p>\n
He insisted that there was no time when he was held or questioned for
\nmoney laundering, stressing that the allegation that he looted the
\nnation\u2019s treasury was false.<\/p>\n
General Gowon, who said he heard about the allegation from social media,
\ninsisted that there was nothing to hide and the record was there for the
\nlawmaker and the British authorities to check.<\/p>\n
He also called on the UK government to take the necessary step to order,
\nstressing that making an allegation of such was an insult to him and
\nNigeria as a nation.<\/p>\n
The former Head of State said, \u201cThe record of my service to the nation
\nis there for everybody to see and even the British government itself,
\nand I don\u2019t know why somebody got the information to make such a very
\nridiculous statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am disappointed with that one and I hope the British authority will
\ndo something to rightly bring that parliamentarian to order to check his
\nfacts before he makes such allegation because it is more or less an
\ninsult to the leadership of Nigeria and certainly an insult to me to say
\nthat I did something of the sort to take half of Nigeria\u2019s Central Bank
\nand I must have put it in a British bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, he should check all the British banks to see whether any such thing
\nhas happened, and he (the UK lawmaker) will be surprised that I was not
\nbeing held for money laundering,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
General Gowon, 86, served as the Head of State from 1966 to 1975.<\/p>\n
Tugendhat had accused General Gowon and some other leaders in Nigeria of
\nrobbing the people during a debate on a petition on #EndSARS at the UK
\nparliament.<\/p>\n
He also alleged that the leaders ran to London to hide the loots, adding
\nthat British banks were used for illegal transfer of assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has dismissed the allegations of money laundering leveled against him by a member of the United Kingdom parliament. The elder statesman condemned the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n