The United Kingdom Government has declined providing sufficient details about Peter Obi’s arrest and detention by its immigration officials at Heathrow Airport in London last week Friday.
PREMIUM TIMES wrote a letter to the British government requesting the details of the arrest and detention of Obi.
In a short reply on Thursday the UK government said they do not comment on individual’s cases.
“We do not comment on individual cases,” Chloe Newman, the senior communications officer – Newsdesk Communications Directorate, stated in the reply on Thursday.
Bothered about several unsubstantiated claims on social media over the issue, this newspaper wrote to the UK Home Office on 13 April, seeking to understand the circumstances surrounding Obi’s ordeals in the European country during Easter, for accurate reporting.
The Obi-Datti Media, in a statement on Wednesday by its Head, Diran Onifade, said Mr. Obi was detained in London by UK immigration officials over alleged impersonation.
The statement did not, however, contain details of Obi’s arrest and his subsequent release before returning to the country.
Specifically, neither the UK government nor the LP, in its statement, gave clarification on Obi’s offences, when and how he was released, the conditions upon which he was released, the current status of the case against him and other related issues.
More so, while the party claimed in its statement issued on Wednesday that Obi was arrested over alleged impersonation, it failed to state the offences committed by the impersonator for which the former Anambra Governor was “arrested”, “harassed” and eventually “detained” before he was released.
It also remains unclear if Obi was deported and if he still possesses a valid UK access visa at the moment following his last week’s ordeal in London.
Meanwhile, the LP has denied media reports that the UK government had apologized to Obi over his “arrest”, “detention” and “harassment” at the London airport as claimed.
