- * I Was Arrested In Error, But Released After Apology By EFCC, Says Okupe
By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CelestineOkaf11
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), on Thursday, explained why and how an ex-presidential Adviser, Dr Doyin Okupe, was intercepted at the Airport in Lagos on Thursday, January 12, 2023.
In a statement by the Commission's spokesman, Wilson Uwugiaren, the EFCC said the Department of State Services, (DSS), on Thursday, January 12, informed the Commission of the interception of Dr. Doyin Okupe, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The Commission stated that the Security 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 statement explained that the Commission was in the process of formally lifting the watch-list before Okupe's interception but however promised to "expedite action" in this regard.
Meanwhile, Okupe in his reaction shortly after his interception on his way to the United Kingdom, claimed that the DSS arrested him "in error", an act that should never have occurred.
Doyin Okupe, a medical doctor and a former Director -General of the Peter Obi/Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, tweeted on his social media handle, that his international passport had long been seized by the Federal High Court in Abuja even before finding him guilty of violating sections of the Money Laundering Act that attracted him two and a half years imprisonment.
He revealed that the EFCC Operatives in Lagos and Abuja have apologised for arresting him in "error".
Okupe tweeted thus: “I was arrested and detained at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos this morning, January 12, on my way to the UK for medicals, years after my passport was withheld by the FHC, Abuja.
“I just left the EFCC office where the senior and younger officers in Lagos and Abuja apologised to me for the error.” NNL.
