A chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Doyin Okupe has confirmed his arrest by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday morning.
Okupe, in a tweet, said he was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos when he wanted to catch a flight for a medical trip overseas.
He, however, said he has been released, adding that security agents “apologised” to him for “the error”.
I was arrested & detained @ the MMIA, Lagos this morning, 12th Jan on my way to UK for medicals; years after my passport had been withheld by the FHC Abuja.
I just left the EFCC office where Snr Officers in Lagos & Abuja appologised to me for the error.OCCUPATIONAL HAZZARD abi?
— Doyin (@doyinokupe) January 12, 2023
Okupe was billed to fly to London via Virgin Atlantic before he was apprehended by the secret police.
He was intercepted at the instance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya said in a statement on Thursday.
Afunanya also said the LP chieftain has been handed over to the anti-graft agency but the LP chieftain said hours later that he has been freed.
In a statement, the EFCC said it acted on a watch-list issued over six years before Okupe’s recent conviction on money laundering charges by the Abuja court.
“The Service acted on a Watch-list request issued on July 18, 2016, over six years before his recent conviction on money laundering charges by the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“The Commission was in the process of formally lifting the watch-list before his interception and will expedite action in this regard,” said EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren.
Okupe was the director-general of the campaign of the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi but resigned last December after a court in Abuja found him guilty of money laundering charges. He had paid off his fine and even attended the party’s rallies this year before his airport incident on Thursday.
