The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi, has debunked the report of his purported arrest at the Heathrow Airport, London, saying he was only stopped by an immigration official for a routine check.
Speaking yesterday on Arise News, Obi said he was never arrested because he committed no offence.
He explained that he was stopped for the usual check because there appeared to have been a duplication of his identity.
He added that his interaction with the UK immigration officials lasted for about 20 minutes and he was treated with respect during the encounter.
He maintained that he never committed any offence in the UK from 1993 to 2005 when he lived there and that he had not been found wanting in any part of the world.
“I was never arrested; I was never detained and I didn’t commit any offence. I was stopped for a routine immigration check because there appeared to be a duplication of my identity.
“And all this lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes. And I was treated with all due respects. I have lived in the UK from 1993 to 2005. Not just that I lived there; from that 1993 till now it is a period of 30 years.
“I have never been questioned, arrested, detained in any country in the world. I have never for any reason found myself in any manner being questioned over any offence,” he said.
Furthermore, he said: “I was actually given all the due respect by the boarder personality that interviewed me and who told me ‘Your identity is duplicated – be careful’, and actually had to walk me through what I can call the VIP process. And I have a written document from the British Government clarifying the situation.”
He said some Nigerians who arrived with him on the British Airways flight were unsettled by the development.
Responding to a question on the allegation that he could be a citizen of Solomon Island, Obi said the only country he is a citizen is Nigeria, stressing that he does not hold dual citizenship.
“I have never been there all my life. The place I have gone in the Caribbean is Haiti. I was a governor when they had the earthquake. Everybody close to me knows that I have been to most troubled places in the world. So, when there was earthquake in Haiti, I went to President Goodluck Jonathan and told him I was going to the country to help them rebuild and he (Jonathan) was surprised.
“That is what I have done all my life; I have been to most troubled places in the world. I withdrew my son from school and we went to Haiti. I helped them to raise money then, over $200,000. So, I have been to Haiti and also Barbados, but I don’t know Solomon Island.
“I don’t own a property anywhere outside Nigeria, except in the UK, where I live. Other than that, if there is a property in the name of Peter Obi, it is fake and I don’t need it. Why would I own a property where I don’t live?”
Obi described the allegation of treason levelled against him by the minister of information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, as, “the height of rascality.”
“I committed a treasonable offence and I am in Onitsha, but my minister went and announced it in Washington. That is the waste in governance I am talking about.
“The amount it cost Nigeria to go and make that announcement in Washington can build a block of six classrooms in a primary school.
“I am sure if you go to his village, there are so many places where children don’t have desks or classrooms. Instead of using that money to fix it, he used the money to go to Washington, just to accuse someone who lives in Onitsha of treason.
“It is rascality of the highest order and that is the reason we are calling for a new Nigeria where things work the way it works in other climes. From there he went to London, announcing same thing. He should have invited me or come to see me,” he said.
Recall that the LP presidential candidate was interrogated for by immigration officials at Heathrow Airport, London, during Easter for offences allegedly committed by an impostor.
The campaign council of the party said in a statement that the impostor was at large and could be “committing all kinds of weighty crimes and other dubious acts and it would be recorded in Obi’s name.”
“The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi just back from London, United Kingdom where he celebrated Easter, has confirmed that he was harassed by London immigration officials and placed for detention but for the spontaneous reaction of Nigerians at Heathrow Airport.
“Obi-Datti media office can confirm that the LP presidential candidate in the February 25 Presidential poll arrived at Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, and joined the queue for the necessary airport protocols when he was accosted by immigration official who handed him a detention note and told him to step aside. He was questioned for a long time and it was very strange for a man who lived for over a decade in that country.
“Since Obi’s face was already an international frame, especially for Nigerians, Africans home, and in Diaspora who are likely to be Obidients, the people quickly raised their voices wondering why he was being delayed.
“The immigration officials who were also taken aback at the reaction of the people were forced to reveal that Obi was being questioned for a duplication offence meaning that someone has been impersonating him in London.
“The high implication of the offence is that the impersonator could be committing all kinds of weighty crimes and other dubious acts and it would be recorded in Obi’s name.
“Since the impersonator is still at large, the scenario is unimaginable as Obi could be implicated in a series of forbidden acts and even be framed in a manner that could be a huge embarrassment to him, his family, his party, the Obidient Movement, and indeed Nigeria, where he currently and indisputably remains the conscience of the people,” the campaign office said.
