Flagbearer of Nigeria’s Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, was detained at the Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom, where he celebrated Easter, Head, Obi-Datti Media, Diran Onifade, has confirmed.
Onifade in a statement on Wednesday also said Obi was harassed by London immigration officials and placed in detention but for the spontaneous reaction of Nigerians.
Onifade said the LP Presidential candidate arrived the Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, and joined the queue for the necessary Airport procedures when he was approached by an 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 offense’ meaning that someone has been impersonating him in London.
“The high implication of the offense 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,” Onifade said.
He explained that the scenario is disturbing 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 Nigeria, where ‘he currently and indisputably remains the conscience of the people’. The impersonator is still at large.
Onifade also recalled that Obi has been under all sorts of attack, since the February 25th, 2023 Presidential election in which he put up an outstanding showing coming third out of 18 contestants as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), though his supporters and many other election watchers including international observers believe very strongly that he won the election but was manipulated out.