I Was Erroneously Arrested By DSS – Okupe
*He was Arrested Based On 2016 Watch list Request-EFCC
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.
Meanwhile the EFCC stated that the Department of State Services, DSS, Thursday, informed the Commission of the interception of Dr. Doyin Okupe, former presidential adviser, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
‘The 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 Commission was in the process of formally lifting the watch-list before his interception and will expedite action in this regard, EFCC stated in a press release signed by its spokesperson.
