THE immediate past Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Doyin Okupe, has been released by the Department of State Services (DSS) which arrested him this morning at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Okupe disclosed this this afternoon shortly after the DSS released him.
“I was arrested & detained @ the MM int airport, Lagos this morning 12th Jan on my way to UK for medicals yrs of my passport being withheld by the FHC Abuja.I hv just left the efcc office where snr officers in lagos& Abuja apologised to me for the error. OCCUPATIONAL HAZZARD abi?,” he tweeted.
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
Reacting to the arrest, one of Okupe’s lawyers, Tolu Babaleye, claimed that the DSS asked Okupe to provide court processes as evidence he paid the fine option the Federal High Court, Abuja, imposed on him after conviction for money laundering.
“The reason, according to the source, is that he was asked to produce evidence that the Federal High Court Abuja has freed him from the case in which he was convicted and paid a fine to the knowledge of the whole world and was allowed to go home.
“When will this harassment stop? Who is after Dr Okupe? As of today, the man has no case to answer. I hereby demand that the DSS should release my client immediately as this is a violation of his freedom of movement, right to liberty and dignity as a human person. This is unfair as the man’s health is fast failing,” he wrote.
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujare, explained that the DSS acted on a Watch-list request issued on July 18, 2016 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,” Uwujare said.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.