THE Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Office has revealed how the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi was harassed by immigration officers at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom.
A spokesman for the campaign council, Diran Onifade, in a statement on Wednesday said the former Anambra State governor was detained and questioned for a duplication offence which suggests that someone has been impersonating Obi in London.
According to Mr. Onifade, the LP’s presidential candidate who is just back from London, where he celebrated Easter, was saved by the spontaneous reaction of Nigerians at Heathrow Airport.
Onifade said Obi arrived at Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria on Good Friday, 7th April 2023, and joined the queue for the necessary airport protocols when he was accosted by immigration officials 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 narrated.
He further recounted that the immigration officials, who were also taken aback at the reaction of the people, were forced to reveal to those present that Obi was being questioned.
Onifade asserted that 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 LP campaign office spokesman stressed.
The Obi-Datti Media Office said its principal has been under all kinds of attack, since the 25th February 2023 presidential election in which he came third out of 18 contestants as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) even though its “supporters and many other election watchers including international observers believe very strongly that he won the election but was manipulated out”.
The campaign office further stated that since Obi was told to go to court if he feels strongly about the election, there have been severe attacks on him from all corners.
“Even the Federal Government who directed him to go to court despatched the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammad to the United States to attempt to de-marketing him and accused him of treason”.
Eighteen-Eleven Media