*Narrates encounter with UK immigration
By Kamsi Anayo
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), on Monday spoke on his encounter with the UK immigration operatives on April 7th at the Heathrow Airport in London.
He said that the story that he was arrested and detained for hours before being deported, was far from the truth.
It was the first time Obi, who appeared as a guest on Prime Time, a current affairs programme on Arise Television, would personally address the issue since the story, which broke about a fortnight ago went viral.
He told his host that the encounter did not even last more than 20 minutes and that he was even escorted through the VIP lounge by the same immigration personnel, who had earlier revealed to him that the issue was all about someone impersonating him.
Hear him: “I was never arrested, I was never detained and I did not commit any offence. I was stopped for a routine immigration check, because there appeared to be a duplication of my identity. All these lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes.
“I was treated with all due respect. I lived in the UK from 1993 to 2005. Not only that I lived there, from that period to now is a period of 30 years. I’ve never been questioned, arrested, detained in any country in the world. I’ve never for any reason found myself in any manner being questioned for any offence.
“I never committed any offence and it lasted for less than 20 minutes and I was given all the due respect by the border personnel who told me, your identity is duplicated, be careful and actually had to walk me through to the VIP process and every other thing. I have a written document by the British government clarifying that I was never detained. It was just a few minute routine check.
“It was actually Nigerians who were queuing up because I arrived on British Airways. They were even worried that they asked me a question for just a few minutes. But today it is being dramatised and everything.
“People are saying I was detained that I committed an offence or that I even committed several offences, his company was closed, he wasn’t paying tax. For the years I lived in Britain, I’ve never been questioned. My taxes were duly paid. In fact most times, they had refunded me money for overpayment. I had borrowed money from their system and I’d done everything globally and not one day had I default in anything. If you find one default, it is not Peter.”
Obi, who said he was not perturbed about the noise being made about the whole incident, said he refrained from making the clarification earlier to respect the period, which was holy for Christians and Muslims.
He added that he would not be bothered about the “rascality” of certain people in high places, frantically looking for ways to smear him, as the only weapon to cover their own shortcomings.
“I was never deported. Rather I even attended churches and meetings and everything. They didn’t take me to anywhere. I was there in front of everybody and they were saying there was something wrong with your identity. That’s it. It was just about 15 minutes. It was about identity theft, which I would say originated from here. But that is a matter for another day.”
Obi, also spoke on the issue of dual citizenship, saying he never applied to be a citizen of any country and would never do so, adding that he was not only a Nigerian, but a proud one at that who would never desire to have any other country’s passport.
“I lived in the UK for a period of 12 years. I had a permanent stay that could allow me to live there for the rest of my life. But when I left the UK I went back to return the stay. I now go to the UK with a visa. Even that stay, I returned it. I’ve never applied and I’ll never, for as long as I live. I was born a Nigerian. God created me a Nigerian. He would have made me an American or a Japanese or a British. But I’m a Nigerian and I’ll like to live and die a Nigerian.”
Obi, who also denied owning property in Solomon’s Island as alleged by leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Asari Dokubo, who had earlier claimed that the only condition to own such a property was to take up the citizenship of the country, said he did not even know where the country was located on the map, adding that the only Caribbean country he had visited, was in Haiti, where he went on humanitarian service when it was hit by earthquake.
