The Federal Government of Nigeria has refuted reports that it intervened in the detention of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi in London, United Kingdom, last week.
Obi was said to be briefly detained at Hearthrow Airport in London in a case of mistaken identity during his trip to celebrate Easter in the UK, and a fake photo went viral on social media on Thursday purportedly showing the executive chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, seated in an office with Obi and a UK law enforcement officer in order to secure the LP presidential candidate’s release from detention.
Additionally, Bashir Ahmad, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, tweeted on Thursday that the Federal Government had interfered in Peter Obi’s plight to ensure his release.
“I heard Aunty @Abike Dabiri did it for the Compatriot who needed her intervention in the UK,” Ahmad wrote. Especially this most recent one, ma’am, may God bless you and the services you have been providing for our countrymen and women.
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Abdur-Rahman Balogun, NiDCOM’s spokesperson and Director of the Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, has disavowed the trending image and called it a publicity hoax. He said that the head of NiDCOM, Dabiri-Erewa, was out of the country and unable to obtain the release of any Nigerians believed to be being questioned in the UK.
According to the NiDCOM spokesman: “Our attention has been called to the above social.media stunt which has gone viral. Aunty Abike Dabiri-Erewa is NOT in UK and NOT in a position to secure the release of any Nigerian suspected to be under UK interrogation. So, members of the public should disregard the information in its entirety.”
