Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has denied that he was arrested by British Immigration, explaining that he was only stopped for a routine immigration check.
“I was stopped for a routine immigration check and all these lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes. I was treated with all due respect. I was never arrested nor detained,” he said in a television interview on Monday night.
He also commented on whether he had a criminal record in the UK. “I lived in the UK in the 90s from 1993 to 2005. From that time till now is 30 years and I have never been questioned, arrested, or detained in any country in the world.
“I have never been arrested or questioned in any manner. I have never committed any offense. So, what happened was a routine immigration check and that happened not more than 20 minutes and I was given all due respect by the authorities.”
Obi responded to comments attributed to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accusing of him treason, describing it as rascality and a waste of public resources.
He described as the height of rascality the activities of hirelings on him, his Vice Yusuf Datti Baba Ahmad, and the party all intended to derail them from pursuing justice.
He said, together with his presidential running mate, they remain unwavering and committed to pursuing their petition at the election tribunal to its logical conclusion.
On the allegation of treason leveled against him by the minister, Obi said, “That is the height of rascality. It was even announced in Washington. I committed a treasonable offense and I’m in Onitsha, and my minister went to announce it in Washington. This is the waste in governance we are talking about and people don’t want to understand.
“The amount it cost Nigeria for him to go and announce that in Washington can build a block of six classrooms in a primary school. I’m sure if you go to his village there are so many places where children don’t even have desks or classrooms to go to school.
“Instead of using that money for this purpose, he went to Washington to announce treason against someone in Onitsha. He doesn’t need to do that. From there he went to London, announcing the same thing when I’m in Nigeria. He should have come to see me or invited me and tell me my offense,”
Responding to the crisis in the Labour Party, the Presidential standard bearer said that there were no issues in the party and that the reported crisis is just the “rascality” by paid agents bent on derailing the party to pursue justice.
“In the Labour Party, we have no issue. Bar Julius Abure is our chairman and those things you’re seeing are just the handiwork of paid agents who are trying to create confusion,”
On the report showing a picture of him visiting the President-elect, the former Anambra state Governor said he never visited the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, as speculated on social media.
He explained that the rumours and accompanying photoshopped pictures being shared on social media platforms are part of moves by the opposition to derail his objective.
“I never visited him (Tinubu). I didn’t. These are some of the things I have been telling you. They have turned the whole thing upside down and into a joke. So, what they (the opposition) do now is think about what they are going to do to cause issues and what they are going to do to label him (Obi) this or that.
“If it is not labeling him (Obi) tribal bigot, or religious bigot when he is not speaking, they will find his family and check whether he has a lovechild and all sorts of things, including misrepresented identity among others, I didn’t visit anybody,” the former governor stressed.
He maintained that despite all these he was committed to the course of justice and was ready to pursue the case before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to a logical conclusion.
The LP flag bearer also clarified that he doesn’t hold United Kingdom citizenship explaining that even though he stayed in the country for some period, he returned his “unlimited residency permit” to the authorities when he was about to leave the country.
Speaking on the leaked video where it was reported that he told a presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Worldwide (Winners Chapel) David Oyedepo during a telephone discussion that the election has become a religious war, Obi said, “Whatever anybody wants to make of it is fine with me, but all I can tell you is that I am not a religious or a tribal bigot”
He said that he couldn’t have been a religious or tribal bigot and kept the closest person he had when he was Governor, ADC, a Muslim from Kano, ditto his Police Commissioner. He also repeated the confession of the Muslim community in Anambra state who confirmed during last week’s Sallah festivities that he helped them to rebuild their damaged Mosque and remained the only non-Muslim governor who sent Muslims to hajj.
Obi said that while he is not desperate to be President of Nigeria he is indeed desperate to see a better Nigeria that citizens will be proud of.
On his mood ahead of the May 29 inauguration, the former Anambra state Governor said nothing changes in his mood as he and his supporters remain steadfast and focused on expectations of justice.