Former Anambra governor and Labour Party candidate for president of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has stated that he was never arrested by the UK immigration officials, contradicting his party's statement on the April incident.
In a recent interview to African media, Obi noted that he was stopped for an ordinary immigration check in April, refuting his party's claim that he had been interrogated for a long time.
"I was never arrested, I was never detained. And I did not commit any offense. 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," said Obi.
Recently, the Nigerian Labour Party stated that Obi had been harassed and arrested at Heathrow Airport in London due to an alleged fake ID.
"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 announced.
Nevertheless, Peter Obi emphasized that the immigration officers just informed the former governor of Anambra of his identity being duplicated, thus warning him to be more careful.
"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," he outlined.
Obi was a presidential candidate during the 2023 campaign. According to elections results, which were announced on March 1, 2023, Obi took third place from 18 candidates running, losing to the winner Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress Party and the candidate from the People's Democratic Party Atiku Abubakar. Obi received 6.1 million votes and won in both Lagos and Abuja, which are among the most populous cities of the country.