State, General Yakubu Gowon.
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has
dismissed the allegations of money laundering levelled against him
by a member of the United Kingdom parliament.
The elder statesman condemned the claims in an interview with
Channels Television on Thursday, three days after the UK lawmaker,
Tom Tugendhat, accused him of looting half of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
He stated 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 told Channels Television London
correspondent via telephone.
He 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.
Check My Record
General 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.
[READ ALSO] #EndSARS: UK Parliament Does
Not Speak For British Govt – FG
Watch the video of the UK parliament’s deliberation to
which the Nigerian government is reacting below:
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The former Head of State said, “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.
“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,” he added.
General Gowon, 86, served as the Head of State from 1966 to
1975.
Tugendhat had accused General Gowon and some other leaders in
Nigeria of robbing the people during a debate on a petition on
#EndSARS at the UK parliament.
He also alleged that the leaders ran to London to hide the
loots, adding that British banks were used for illegal transfer of
assets.
The Kingdom of Netherlands on Thursday officially presented a
smuggled Ife Terracotta antiquity dated to be at least 600 years
old to Nigeria.
The repatriated antiquity was presented to the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a ceremony held in
Abuja.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, Netherlands
Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Van Dijk, Nigeria Charge de Affairs to
Netherlands, Kabiru Musa and the Director-General National
Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM) were present at the
event.
Receiving the repatriated object, the minister said it was
smuggled through the airport in Ghana before getting to Europe in
2019.
“The smuggler had obtained forged documents purported to be from
a former Director-General of the National Commission for Museums
and Monuments.
“The smuggler ultimately passed through the airport in Ghana
before getting to Europe in 2019.
“The Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport suspected that the object
might be illicitly imported and alerted the antiquity protection
office known as the Inspectie, which is the Information and
Heritage Inspectorate of the Netherlands, to give an opinion.
“The Inspectie invited Nigeria to prove her case against the
suspected smuggler,’’ he said.
In proving the case, Mohammed said the NCMM acted swiftly by
dispatching its lawyer, Mr Babatunde Adebiyi, to present evidence
and argue for the return of the object.
He said Nigeria was successful in the case and the claim was
determined in its favour.
Mohammed said after all internal procedures, including the right
of appeal, were exhausted, the Government of the Netherlands handed
over the object to the Nigerian Embassy in Hague on Nov. 2.
He noted that with the repatriation of the “priceless and
timeless’’ artefact the federal government efforts at pursuing the
return of Nigerian antiquities had started yielding fruits.
The minister underscored the need for Nigeria to tap into
tourism and other fields, where Nigeria has comparative advantages,
in order to generate income for the nation and secure jobs for the
youth.
“One way of generating income for the country is if our cultural
properties are exhibited around the world to a fee-paying audience,
on the basis of proper agreement that acknowledges us as owners and
confers the right benefits on us.
“But this is not possible for as long as most of them adorn the
museums and private collections of others, who describe them as
their properties,’’ he said.
The minister reiterated Nigeria commitment to joint
international efforts to put a stop to illicit export and import of
cultural goods.
He said Netherland and Nigeria will make a joint presentation on
the repatriation to the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris, so that other
nations might take a cue from it in finding rapprochement and
common ground concerning the issue of return of antiquities.
On his part, Onyema said it is a happy day for Nigeria because
there are many Nigerian cultural assets around the world which have
become difficult to track.
He said some of the assets were taken out of the country for
over 100 years back and some more recently.
The minister said there is underground illegal market for
cultural asset which has made them difficult to identify, retrieve
and repatriate.
Onyema said the government is committed to the restitution of
all the nation’s cultural assets illegally taken and litter across
the globe
Musa said the repatriation was made possible in compliance with
the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking
of Cultural Heritage which Nigeria and Netherlands are
signatories.
He said that the return of the smuggled artefact was significant
considering the fact that it coincided with 50 years-celebration of
the UNESCO Convention.