Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
A member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Adamu Garba tweeted that the APC government through the Chair of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa facilitated the release of Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi from detention in the UK.
Verdict
False. The image attached to the tweet is fake as Abike Dabiri-Erewa did not secure the release of Peter Obi from detention on behalf of the Federal Government.
Full Text
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Adamu Garba tweeted that the APC government through the Chair of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa facilitated the release of Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi from detention in the UK.
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
Adamu who thanked Dabiri also claimed among other things that Obi travelled to the UK with fake documents.
The tweet has gone viral as other users took to their Twitter handles and attached an image purportedly showing 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.
I heard Aunty @AbikeDabiri 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!
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 13, 2023
Adamu’s tweet has garnered over 200 retweets, 833 likes and 467 quote tweets as at press time.
Obi’s Detention
A report emerged yesterday stating how Obi was detained in London by the United Kingdom immigration officials for alleged impersonation.
According to a statement issued by the Head, Obi-Datti Media, Diran Onifade, Peter Obi was harassed by London immigration officials and placed in detention where he spent the Easter holidays.
“The LP presidential candidate in the February 25 presidential poll arrived at the Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, and joined the queue for the necessary Airport protocols when he was accosted by immigration officials who handed him a detention note and told him to step aside,” Mr Onifade said.
Mr Onifade also explained that the high implication of the offence 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.
He emphasised that since the impersonator is still at large, the scenario is unimaginable as Peter 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 Obedient movement, and Nigeria, where he currently and remains the conscience of the people.
In his reaction to the report that the UK government apologised to him for the detention, Obi said he did not receive any letter of apology from the British government.
Verification
To verify Adamu’s claim, FactCheckElections came across a report by LEADERSHIP stating that the Federal Government of Nigeria has denied news making the rounds that it intervened in Obi’s detention ordeal.
According to the spokesperson and head of Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NiDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the image attached to the tweet is a stunt.
He added that 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,” He said.
Conclusion
Adamu’s claim is false. According to NiDCOM, the Federal Government did not secure the release of Peter Obi from detention and the image attached to the tweet is fake.