It has been over a year since the identity of Peter Obi, the Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate, was reportedly cloned and stolen, yet the Nigerian government, Nigerian Immigration Service, and the United Kingdom Government have remained silent on the matter, failing to apprehend the impersonator responsible for the act.
The saga began on April 7, 2023, when Obi found himself detained and questioned for hours at Heathrow Airport in London by immigration officials, who cited a case of “duplicate identity.” Obi clarified that he was stopped for a routine immigration check that lasted less than 20 minutes and was treated respectfully. Questions lingered about the security breach that led to his identity being compromised.
Addressing the issue in an interview session in Arise TV, on 16 April 2023, Labour Party Spokesperson, Nana Kazaure, pointed fingers at the Nigerian government, emphasizing that they hold the key to unravelling the mystery behind the cloned identity. She raised pertinent questions about who could access the national database and breach Nigeria’s security protocols and urged authorities to investigate thoroughly.
Kazaure stated,” To shed any light as far as we know, you should be asking the Nigerian government that questions; they are the ones that have answers to why Obi’s international passport if at all could have been cloned. They are the ones that have the information on the national Identity card processing that even happened.
“Who has access to a data base in our passport offices in national database? Who has access? If not the Nigerian government. Because it’s very strange to Nigerians to wake up in the morning and hear that his excellency Peter Obi’s identity has been cloned; that is a huge omission on our security.
“Who is able to breach Nigeria’s security in such a manner? those are the questions we are asking. I don’t understand why we are being hounded on a daily basis,” she added.
Similarly, the spokesperson for Atiku Presidential Campaign Organization, Daniel Bwala, urged Obi to seek legal recourse to compel the Nigerian government to disclose information about the impersonator.
Bwala emphasized that since Nigerian immigration issued the impersonator Obi’s passport, the government bears the responsibility of apprehending the culprit and those behind the criminal act.
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The revelation of Obi’s cloned identity led to debates and controversy across Nigeria, with opposition parties questioning his credibility; saying that the incident depicted Obi as a liar while his supporters dismissed the incident as handwork of mischief makers from the opposition parties, some pointing fingers directly at the Nigerian government.
Despite the uproar, the UK government has remained silent, neither issuing an apology to Obi nor acknowledging responsibility for the incident.
As the mystery surrounding Peter Obi’s cloned identity persists, Parallel Facts awakens Nigerians to demand answers and accountability from both Nigerian and UK authorities in resolving this alarming breach of security.
By: Patrick Mbam & Steve Emmanuel
