A member of the United Kingdom Parliament, Tom Tugendhat
(Tonbridge and Malling) took a swipe at retired General Yakubu Gowon on Monday.
Gowon was Nigeria’s Head of State from 1966 to 1975.
During the debate on a petition on End SARS, Tugendhat
accused him and the country’s leaders of corruption.
Decrying the situation in Nigeria, the lawmaker said: “One
of the great countries is, sadly, being racked by violence, and violence
against young people.
“The greatest book in the English Language is Things Fall
Apart by Chinua Achebe, the great Nigerian writer. The beauty of that book is
the way it explains the challenge of changing generations to live together.
“The way it speaks about values falling away and community
being eroded by outside pressure. What we’re seeing in Nigeria today is part of
that story.
“It’s a tragedy that we are watching, it’s a tragedy that we
are all witnessing. The pressure this time is not foreign colonialism, the
pressure instead is corruption and violence.
“We need to call out the corruption, we need to use the
powers that we have in this country to stop those 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 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.
“We know that our banks, sadly, have been used for that
profit and for that illegal transfer of assets.
“And that means the UK is in enormous unique position in being able to do actually something to really exert pressure on those who have robbed the Nigerian people.”
MPs including Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet), Kate
Osamor (Edmonton), Lyn Carol Brown (West Ham), Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North
West) made contributions.
The lawmakers urged the Minister for Africa, James
Duddridge, and the UK Foreign Office to engage Nigerian authorities and brief
parliament subsequently.
In October, the UK Government admitted that it provided
training and equipment to SARS.
Duddridge confirmed that the training was between 2016 and
2020.
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Nigeria is broke now and can do with whatever is left of the purported Gowon loot. Given the value of Nigerian £ or Naira then you can imagine if it is returned to Nigeria. Gowon has not been noticed blowing up that kind of money. Return that money but don't give it to @MBihari as he doesn't know how to keep money safe. Please return the money as cash directly to #EndDARS protesters whose account has been frozen by Commander Emefiele.
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