Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has said he was never arrested by United Kingdom immigration officials.
Recall that last month, the former governor of Anambra State was reportedly harassed and detained at Heathrow Airport in London over alleged impersonation.
The party in a statement said Obi was interrogated for a “long time” and that it took the intervention of Nigerians for him to be released.
“He was questioned for a long time, and it was very strange for a man who lived for over a decade in that country,” the party had said.
Though, when Premium Times Newspaper wrote to the UK authorities probing to know why LP presidential hopeful was detained, they declined providing sufficient details about his ordeal as requested by the paper.
News Band reports that in its reply through the Home Office, UK government said they do not comment on individual’s cases.
“We do not comment on individual cases,” Chloe Newman, senior communications officer – Newsdesk Communications Directorate, stated in the reply on Thursday.
Meanwhile, during an interview with Arise Television on Monday, Peter Obi explained his side of what transpired at Heathrow airport.
Obi said he was stopped for a routine immigration check.
He said: “I was never arrested, I was never detained. And I did not 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.
“I lived in the UK from 1993 until 2005. From then till now is a period of 30 years. I have never been questioned, arrested or detained in any country in the world. I have never for any reason found myself being questioned for any offence.
“It was a routine immigration check and I was actually given all the due respect by the border personality that interviewed me, who told me ‘your identity has been duplicated, be careful’.”
Obi noted that despite once having a permanent residency in the UK, he chose to return to Nigeria, adding that “I was born a Nigerian. I will want to live and die a Nigerian”.
