Skip to main content

Nigerians Blast AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, For Defending Gowon Over Looting Allegations, Keeping Silent On Lekki Shooting

November 26, 2020

British Member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, while proposing sanctions on Nigerian Government officials complicit in violating the rights of #EndSARS protesters, said Gowon looted half of Nigeria’s treasury when he was ousted from office in a coup and fled for the United Kingdom.

There is outrage from Nigerians on Twitter after Akinwumi Adesina, President of the Africa Development Bank, sprung to the defence of former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, on looting allegations levelled against him.

British Member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, while proposing sanctions on Nigerian Government officials complicit in violating the rights of #EndSARS protesters, said Gowon looted half of Nigeria’s treasury when he was ousted from office in a coup and fled for the United Kingdom.

Image

The revelation by Tugendhat generated interest among many young Nigerians, who felt the information was deliberately omitted from Nigeria’s history textbooks to potray Gowon as a hero.

Gowon oversaw Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from 1967 to 1970 where more than three million people died.

Adesina in Gowon’s defence said he was a man of integrity and impeccable character.

His tweet did not, however, go well with many Nigerians, who described his decision to defend the former military leader while choosing to stay silent on the killing of peaceful #EndSARS protesters in Lekki as hypocritical.

Jackson Ude urged Adesina to allow Gowon defend himself or sue if he feels he had been defamed. 

Obademi Micheal expressed his disappointment in Adesina, saying, “Youths were murdered, you said nothing. Thank you for revealing what you stand for. Definitely not a true Nigeria. As to many that thought you were a good example. Now we know what you truly stand for.” 

Topics
Politics