The British government has tendered an apology to the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi after he was wrongly fully detained by an immigration officer who had mistaken him for someone who impersonated him to commit some crimes.
It was also gathered from a statement released on the Labor Party website that the UK govt expressed that the unsavoury treatment had been totally unacceptable. “Frankly, the Immigration Official’s action – has been appalling – and we are sorry,” they quoted. Recall that the ex-Anambra governor was detained and questioned for a duplication violation, according to Diran Onifade, the party’s campaign council spokesman, who disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday, April 12. On Good Friday, April 7, 2023, Obi landed at Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria and was confronted by immigration officers. He was given a detention note and instructed to move aside by the officials while he waited in line for the required airport procedures. Onifade said: “He was questioned for a long time and it was very strange for a man who lived for over a decade in that country. Since the impersonator is still at large, the scenario is unimaginable as Obi could be implicated in a series of forbidden acts and even be framed in a manner that could be a huge embarrassment to him, his family, his party, the obidient Movement, and indeed Nigeria, where he currently and indisputably remains the conscience of the people. The immigration officials who were also taken aback at the reaction of the people were forced to reveal that Obi was being questioned for a ‘DUPLICATION offense’ meaning that someone has been impersonating him in London. The high implication of the offense is that the impersonator could be committing all kinds of weighty crimes and other dubious acts and it would be recorded in Obi’s name.”
