The London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) yesterday said they have no knowledge of the purported arrest of the wife of Oyo State Governor, Mrs Florence Ajimobi.
A Nigerian news media, PM News, yesterday published a story with a screaming headline “Anxiety over Florence Ajimobi Alleged Arrest in UK”, adding that “London Met Police has not issued any statement about her alleged arrest, affirming that her name drew blank in a search of the Met Police website by P.M.NEWS.”
The story was reportedly first peddled by an online news media, “NewsLeak”.
But the UK Police authorities as at 9:30pm (Nigerian time) yesterday refuted reports of Mrs Ajimobi’s arrest in London.
An officer who spoke with DailyPost said, “We have no knowledge of her being arrested, the lady in question might be with another Police Force but definitely not with the Metropolitan Police.” He then advised us to speak with Nigeria embassy officials.
However, several calls put across to the Nigerian embassy went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has slammed a N1 billion suit on Independent Communications Network Limited, publishers of PM News.
This was contained in a release issued yesterday in Ibadan by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Festus Adedayo.
The statement accused the opposition of deliberately seeking to cause anxiety in the land under the guise of playing politics.
It reads in part: “We want to state unequivocally that this report is not only wicked, it is the figment of the imagination of the writers. Mrs. Ajimobi was never arrested for any offence whatsoever. Even though our investigations have shown that this is the work of some arrowheads of the opposition, it was done in such an amateurish way that beats the imagination of any responsible reader.”
While noting that it respects the freedom of the press and its huge contributions to democracy, the state government said it would not take the matter lightly and as such has decided to approach the court to determine the veracity or otherwise of the allegation.