Peter Obi opens up on alleged visit to Tinubu, arrest in UK, treason allegations, dual citizenship, others

By Oluwadamilare Emmanuel On May 2, 2023

The Labour Party presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, has described the allegation of treason levelled against him by the federal government as “the height of rascality”.

Recall that the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had accused Obi and his running mate, Datti of inciting the public against the government, hence committing treason.

Reacting to the accusation on Monday night during a monitored interview on Arise TV, the former Anambra Governor said Mohammad wasted scarce public resources to embark on a journey to the United States and United Kingdom to accuse him of treason while he’s in Onitsha.

He added that the tax payers money spent on the journey could have been channelled to a more productive and impactful projects.

“I committed a treasonable offense and I am in Onitsha, but my minister went and announced it in Washington. That is the waste in governance I am talking about.

“The amount it cost Nigeria to go and make that announcement in Washington, can build a block of six classrooms in a primary school.

“I am sure if you go to his village, there are so many places where children don’t have desks or classrooms. Instead of using that money to fix it, he used the money to go to Washington, just to accuse someone who lives in Onitsha of treason.

“It is rascality of the highest order and that is the reason we are calling for a new Nigeria, where things work the way it works in other climes. From there he went to London, announcing same thing. He should have invited me or come to see me.”

UK citizenship

The LP standard bearer also clarified that he doesn’t hold United Kingdom citizenship.

He said even though he stayed in the country for some period, he returned his “unlimited residency permit” to the authorities when he was about to leave the country.

‘Arrest’ in UK

On his recent “arrest” in London, Obi explained that he was only stopped for a routine immigration check.

“I was stopped for a routine immigration check and all these lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes. I was treated with all due respect. I was never arrested nor detained,” the former governor clarified.

He added, “I lived in the UK in the 90s from 1993 to 2005. From that time till now is a period of 30 years and I have never been questioned, arrested or detained in any country in the world.

“I have never been arrested or questioned in any manner. I have never committed any offence. So, what happened was a routine immigration check and that happened not less than 20 minutes and I was given all due respect by the authorities.”

Labour Party crisis

On the internal crisis within the Labour Party, Obi noted that there were no issues in the party and the reported crisis is just the “rascality” by paid agents bent on derailing the party to pursue justice.

“In the Labour party, we have no issue. Abure is our chairman and those things you’re seeing are just the handiwork of paid agents who are trying to create confusion,” he said.

Visit to Tinubu

The presidential candidate also said he never visited the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, as speculated on social media.

He explained that the rumours and accompanying photoshopped pictures being shared on social media platforms are part of moves by the opposition to derail his objective.

“I never visited him (Tinubu). I didn’t. These are some of the things I have been telling you. They have turned the whole thing upside down. So, what they (the opposition) do now is think about what they are going to do to cause issues and what they are going to do to label him (Obi) this or that.

“If it is not labelling him (Obi) tribal bigot, or religious bigot when he is not speaking, they will find his family and check whether he has a lovechild and all sorts of things, including misrepresented identity among others.

“I didn’t visit anybody,” the former governor said.

He maintained that he was committed to the course of justice and was ready to pursue the case before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to a logical conclusion.