Federal Gov’t Speaks On Bailing Peter Obi Out Of Detention In UK

The Federal Government of Nigeria has denied reports that it helped to free Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi in the United Kingdom.

WITHIN NIGERIA reported that the former governor of Anambra state was last week Friday, detained at Heathrow Airport in London in a case of mistaken identity during his trip to celebrate Easter in the UK.

Adamu Garba, a former All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, shared a photoshopped image of Abike Dabiri-Erewa, executive chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), seated in an office alongside Peter Obi and a UK law enforcement officer.

Adamu claimed that the APC-led government, through Abike Dabiri, facilitated Peter Obi’s release.

He tweeted:

Here is how the government of APC helped to recover Peter Obi from his detention cell in the UK over allegations of traveling to the UK with fake documents. All thanks to Abike Dabiri.

His campaign fake, manifesto fake, his motives fake, even his travel documents are fake. WHY?

Similarly, an aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, in a tweet on Thursday, also implied that the Federal Government intervened in Peter Obi’s ordeal to secure his release.

He wrote:

I heard Aunty @Abike Dabiri has done it for the Compatriot that needed her intervention in the UK. God bless you and the services you have been rendering for our countrymen and women, especially this recent one, ma’am!

However, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the spokesperson, and head of NiDCOM’s Media, Public Relations, and Protocol Unit, has denied facilitating Peter Obi’s release, describing the viral photo as a media stunt.

He stated that the NiDCOM boss, Dabiri-Erewa, was not in the UK and was unable to secure the release of any Nigerian suspected of being detained in the UK.

He said: 

Our attention has been called to the above social media stunt which has gone viral. Aunty Abike Dabiri-Erewa is NOT in UK and NOT in a position to secure the release of any Nigerian suspected to be under UK interrogation. So, members of the public should disregard the information in its entirety.