‘it’s mere fallacy’, Gowon denies looting ‘half of CBN’

A former military head of state, Yakubu Gowon, has rubbished a claim by a British lawmaker that he looted half of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Gowon was Nigeria’s military head of state from 1966 to 1975. He was overthrown by a military coup while he was out of the country.

Shortly after the coup, Gowon went to the UK to study political science and international relations as an undergraduate at Warwick University.

Tom Tugendhat, a member of the United Kingdom parliament, had during a plenary debating on a petition against Nigeria on the #EndSARS crisis alleged that Gowon looted Nigeria’s treasury when he left office.

In his words: “Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half of the Central Bank, so it is said, and moved to London.”

However, Gowon speaking during an interview with BBC denied the allegation describing it as “mere fallacy”.

He said: “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”.