The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, was on Friday detained and interrogated at the Heathrow Airport in London over an allegation of identity theft, Peoples Gazette learnt.

Chinyere Stella Okunna, who served as the information commissioner and chief of staff under Mr Obi’s governorship tenure, revealed his ordeal which she described as a “Heathrow tale of woe” with UK immigration officials.

According to Ms Okunna, Mr Obi was grilled “for a long time and subsequently handed a detention note” by the foreign officers.

Many Nigerians at the airport protested Mr Obi’s detention, asking why the presidential candidate, a frequent visitor to the UK, would suddenly become a subject of the foreign government’s investigation to the point of being detained, according to Ms Okunna’s account of the incident.

The response received was that Mr Obi’s identity “was duplicated,” implying someone else may have entered the UK impersonating him.

“The implication is that someone is impersonating Peter Obi. And that someone could implicate Obi in all manner of dubious and even criminal activities, and rope him into any number of offences; he could get Obi framed for one criminal act or another,” Ms Okunna said in a social media post. “The frightening scenario of what can happen is unimaginable!”

Although Mr Obi was later released that day, the identity theft claim has stirred up controversy in the Labour Party candidate’s camp, leading some of his supporters to accuse the opposition parties of planting impersonators to bring Mr Obi’s reputation to disrepute on a foreign soil.

Diran Onifade, the spokesperson for the Obi-Datti presidential campaign, confirmed the detention and said traducers were going to unthinkable lengths to intimidate Mr Obi.

“It’s also not impossible that those urging him to leave the country may have planted the impersonators ostensibly to tar the Eagle’s immaculate appearance,” Mr Onifade said.

He said Mr Obi remains undaunted by their attempts and has since returned to Nigeria to resume his duties.