Nigeria Demands Apology From UK Over MP’s Comment On Gowon
Nigeria wants a retraction of the comment a member of the United Kingdom parliament made against former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has also demanded that the UK government apologise.
During a debate on End SARS last Monday in the UK parliament, Tom Tugendhat accused Gowon of moving half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to London.
Tugendhat, a British Conservative Party politician, is the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The MP for Tonbridge and Malling regretted that some former and serving government officials have questionable monies and properties in Britain.
“Our banks have been used for that profit and for that illegal transfer of assets. And that means the UK is in an enormous unique position to exert pressure on those who have robbed the Nigerian people.”
In his reaction during an interview with the BBC, Gowon called the claim “rubbish.”
In a statement at the weekend, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Ferdinand Nwonye, labelled Tugendhat’s allegation “outrageous and unsubstantiated.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Nigerian High Commission in London, immediately sought an apology and retraction of the unsubstantiated allegation from the British Government,” his statement read.
