By Dan Fagbemi
The Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the just concluded 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria; His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi has confirmed that he actually had an encounter with security operatives in the United Kingdom over what he called ‘identity duplication’.
The former governor of Anambra state stated this on Monday while fielding questions from an anchor of a television program on Arise Tv.
Obi was a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), a platform upon which he emerged the governor of Anambra state. He later defected to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and was the Presidential Running mate to a former Nigeria’s Vice President; His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2019. His then party lost the election to the then Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and sitting President; His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari who was seeking a second term.
Obi was still in PDP up until last year during which he bought the Presidential nomination form of the Party and went for screening and was cleared to contest the Presidential primary.
He later defected to the Labour Party (LP) where he emerged as its 2023 Presidential standard bearer.
Peter Obi was in the United Kingdom penultimate month where the Media reported that he was arrested and detained.
While clarifying that the encounter was not actually an arrest as was painted in some sections of the Media he however revealed that it was just an issue of routine immigration check, maintaining that the entire scenario did not last beyond 20 minutes.
“I was stopped for a routine immigration check in the UK because it appears that my identity was duplicated by someone. I was never arrested. I was treated with due respect and walked through the VIP process. Everything lasted less than 20 minutes”, Peter Obi said.