Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council has accused political opponents of plotting to frame the party's presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by impersonating him.
Spokesperson of the Obi-Datti Media Office, Diran Onifade, disclosed this in a statement yesterday.
Onifade said Obi, who was in the United Kingdom to celebrate Easter, was harassed by London immigration officials and placed on detention, but for the spontaneous reaction of Nigerians at Heathrow Airport. He explained that on arrival at the Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria, on Good Friday, April 7, the former Anambra State governor joined the queue for the necessary airport protocols.
"Obi was accosted by immigration officials, who handed him a detention note and told him to step aside," the statement added.
Onifade said it was strange, especially for a man, who lived in the UK for decades, to be subjected to interrogation and detention for a long time.
The statement added, "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.
"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."
Onifade said since Obi vowed to pursue his case at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, he had become the subject of attack from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him, since he was "told to go to court if he feels strongly about the election, which all international monitors chorused were flawed, and full of imperfections, and he accepted, there have been severe attacks on him from all corners.
"Even the federal government, who directed him to go to court even dispatched the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammad, to the United States to attempt at de-marketing him and accused him of treason.
"Obi's telephone line was also bugged when they were possibly looking for information to portray him badly before a section of the country who had voted for him massively.
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"As if they were not getting the desired results of denting his image, and possibly placing the traducers under a heavier conscience load, they tried to persuade him to leave the country and go take a rest.
"It's also not impossible that those urging him to leave the country may have planted the impersonators ostensibly to tar the Eagle's immaculate appearance.
"Finally, let it be known that in the face of the flurry of unwarranted attacks and cogs being placed in the wheel of rescuing our dear country, Obi strongly believes that a new Nigeria is possible, where the people will be able to live in a secure and productive country they will all be proud to own.
Meanwhile, the former Anambra State governor is back in the country and has continued his charity work, visiting health and educational institutions, making donations, and bagging awards."
