UK Lawmaker ‘Lied’ That Gowon Looted CBN – Nigerian Ex-Senator

Former Nigerian Senator, Shehu Sani, has tackled a member of the UK parliament for levelling allegation of grand corruption against Nigerian former military head of state, Yakubu Gowon.

Tom Tugendhat, during a plenary of the UK parliament on Monday, accused Gowon of leaving Nigeria with “half the central bank” to the UK when he left power in 1975.

Tugendhat made the allegation when members of the UK parliament debated a petition seeking sanctions against Nigerian government officials involved in the alleged shooting of unarmed #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020.

The petition was filed by one Silas Ojo and had received 220,000 signatures, surpassing the 100,000 signatures required for the parliament to debate on a matter.

The UK parliamentarians were said to have taken turns to condemn the alleged Lekki shooting incident for more than an hour.

Tugendhat said, “We need to stop those who are profiting from the wealth of that great nation and hiding it here. Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half the Central Bank, so it is said, and moved to London.

“We know that today, even now in this great city of ours, there are sadly some people who have taken from the Nigerian people and hidden their ill-gotten gains here,” the UK lawmaker alleged.

But responding in a tweet on Tuesday, Senator Sani, who represented Kaduna South in the 8th Senate, described Tugendhat’s allegation against Gowon as “outright falsehood”.

Sani claimed that, “Gowon exited power without any evidence of wealth and that remains, for over four decades after power.”

General Yakubu Gowon;The claim of ‘looting the CBN’ made by the British Minister for Africa as represented by Mr James Duddridge against Gen Gowon is nothing but outright falsehood.Gowon exited power without any evidence of wealth & that remains,for over four decades after power.

— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) November 24, 2020

A twitter user (@Greenaetion) was however quick to respond to Sani, saying: “The British won’t just wake up one morning and start talking nonsense like the Nigerian politicians. Before they come out to speak, they always have evidence….”

Meanwhile, the British Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, who was represented during the plenary, had said: “Work is underway to consider how a global corruption sanction regime could be added to the government’s armoury.

“This government will continue to press the Nigerian government and its security services to uphold human rights and the rule of law, to investigate all incidents of brutality, illegal detentions and the use of excessive force and to hold those responsible to account.

“We will closely monitor the judicial panel of inquiries and continue to advocate for investigations into police brutality. The government will consider its options as the panel’s work progresses.”