I was erroneously arrested by EFCC – Okupe

The immediate-past Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Doyin Okupe, has stated that his rearrest by the Department of State Service on the request of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, was erroneous and should not have happened.

Okupe who was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on Thursday morning said his passport had long been withheld by the Federal High Court Abuja even before finding him guilty of violating sections of the Money Laundering Act that attracted two and a half years imprisonment.

The former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Olusegun Obasanjo and 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.”

Querying the action, he asked if it was an occupational hazard.