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Former Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Doyin Okupe has claimed that the Department of State Service’s decision to rearrest him at the request of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission was incorrect and shouldn’t have taken place.
The former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo was detained at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on Thursday morning, January 12.
He claimed that the Federal High Court in Abuja had already confiscated his passport. This was before finding him guilty of breaking the provisions of the Money Laundering Act that carried a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
The former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan added that the officers of the EFCC in Lagos and Abuja have apologised for the error in his arrest.
Narrating the ordeal on his Twitter handle, Okupe wrote; “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.”
Earlier, Department of State Service gave an explanation for the rearrest of Doyin Okupe.
This was at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos State; attributing it to the collaboration of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as the driver of the interception.
On Monday, December 19, 2022, it was revealed that Okupe had violated the Money Laundering Act; and received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Okupe was accused of obtaining N702 million in unlawful payments from public funds intended to buy weapons to fight insurgency in 2019; according to the EFCC, which organised the arrest. The Federal High Court found him guilty and sentenced him to prison.
The DSS Public Relations Officer, Dr. Peter Afunanya, responded to his rearrest at the Lagos Airport; by saying that the former LP campaign DG was detained after attempting to flee the nation for London.
“Doyin Okupe was intercepted by DSS at Terminal 1 of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos this morning at the instance of the EFCC,” Afunanya said in a text message sent to The Punch enquiring about his (Okupe) arrest.
“He has long been handed over to the commission which requested the action. Okupe was billed to fly to London via Virgin Atlantic.”
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