Nigerian government has denied news making the rounds that it bailed out the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi of detention ordeal in London, United Kingdom last week.
Reports have it that Obi was briefly detained at Hearthrow Airport in London over a mistaken identity during his trip to celebrate Easter in the UK.
Following the incident, a fake photo went viral on the social media on Thursday purportedly showing the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), 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.
A member of Tinubu’s campaign council, Adamu Garba tweeted a fake photo of Obi, Dabiri-Erewa with UK officer. An aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, also tweeted on Thursday, implying that Nigerian Government intervened in Peter Obi’s ordeal to secure his release.
Ahmad tweeted, “I heard Aunty @Abike Dabiri has done it for the Compatriot that needed her intervention in the UK. God bless you and the services you have been rendering for our countrymen and women, especially this recent one, ma’am!”
But, the spokesperson and head of Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NiDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, has disowned the viral photo, describing it as a stunt.
Balogun said the NiDCOM boss, Dabiri-Erewa, was not in the UK and not in a position to secure the release of any Nigerian suspected to be under UK interrogation.
“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,” the NiDCOM spokesman stated.
Adamu Garba’s fake news post:
Here is how the government of APC helped to recover Peter Obi from his detention cell in the UK over allegations of traveling to the UK with fake documents. All thanks to Abike Dabiri.
His campaign fake, manifesto fake, his motives fake, even his travel documents are fake. WHY? pic.twitter.com/CVNOiAwP0E
— Adamu Garba II (@adamugarba) April 13, 2023