The Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Office has confirmed that the Labour Party (LP), presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, was arrested and detained on arrival at the Heathrow Airport by UK Immigration officials on April 7, over a case of mistaken identity.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor of Paul University, Awka, Anambra State, Prof. Chinyere Okunna, had in a post on her Facebook page on Wednesday, narrated how Obi told her of his ordeal in London and the harassment he has been facing from powerful politicians in Nigeria to force him to flee from the country.
While reacting to the story, spokesman for the Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, in a statement on Wednesday, confirmed that Obi was detained and questioned for an identity duplication offense, which adds credence to Prof. Okunna’s allegations that someone has been impersonating Obi in London.
In the statement, Onifade said Obi had arrived the 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.”
Onifade said the situation was saved by the spontaneous reaction of Nigerians at Heathrow Airport who were ready to create a scene over Obi’s detention.
He further explained that the immigration officials who were also taken aback at the reaction of the people were forced to reveal to those present Obi was being questioned.
“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.
“Obi’s telephone line was also bugged when they were possibly looking for information to portray him badly before a section of the country who had voted for him massively.
“As if they were not getting the desired results of denting his image, and possibly placing the traducers under a heavier conscience load, they tried to persuade him to leave the country and go take a rest.
“It’s also not impossible that those urging him to leave the country may have planted the impersonators ostensibly to tar the Eagle’s immaculate appearance,” Onifade said, adding, that Obi has been under all kinds of attack, since the February 25th presidential election.
“Even the Federal Government who directed him to go to court over the result of the election despatched the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammad, to the United States to attempt at de-marketing him and accused him of treason.
“The Obi-Datti Media office will like to therefore assure all persons of goodwill especially the Obidients that the Rock is not deterred as he is ready to suffer the pain and remain even more determined to pursue whichever path his creator destined for him in Nigeria.”
