By Musa Shatima Nasidi
Former Chairman of Peter Obi presidential Campaign Council and chieftain of the Labor Party Doyin , was on Thursday morning arrested and prevented from traveling to London, State Security Service spokesman Peter Afunanya said.
In a one-paragraph statement obtained by THEANALYSTNG, Afunanya said that Okupe “was intercepted by DSS at Terminal 1 of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, this morning at the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).”
It has long been turned over to the Commission that requested the action, the SSS spokesman said, adding that Okupe was billed to fly to London via Virgin Atlantic Airline before he was detained.
The Labor Party boss’s planned mission to London remained unclear. But his party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is scheduled to speak at Chatham House on Monday, January 16, to “discuss his vision for political and governance reforms in Nigeria, including priorities for tackling deep-seated insecurity and corruption, and measures to promote the social and political mobility of Nigerian citizens”.
It is not clear if the politician was traveling in advance to participate in the event.
Okupe was jailed on December 19, 2021 for two years after the EFCC successfully prosecuted him for money laundering.
In passing judgment on the matter, Judge Ijeoma Ojukwu held that Mr. Okupe was guilty of contravening sections 16 (1) and (2) of the Money Laundering Act, by receiving cash payments without going through a bank, above the legally permitted threshold.
The politician was found guilty of a total of 26 counts, from 34 to 59 counts.
The judge sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment on count 34 with the option of a N500,000 fine.
The court also sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment on counts 35 to 59 with the option of a 500,000 naira fine. The fine option is to be executed consecutively on each account while the sentence must be executed concurrently.
The judge refrained from issuing a custody order, but said the convict is state property.
Okupe paid the fine and was therefore not detained.
Following his conviction, he resigned from his position as managing director of the Labor Party presidential campaign.
In January 2019, the EFCC indicted Mr Okupe along with two companies, Value Trust Investment Ltd and Abrahams Telecoms Ltd, on N702 fraud allegations.
He was charged with 59 counts bordering on “money laundering and criminal diversion of funds” to the tune of N702 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which was headed by Sambo Dasuki.
While closing his case, an EFCC witness, Shuaibu Salisu, former ONSA Director of Administration and Finance, said in 2012 that he was ordered to make a payment of 50 million naira to him.”
He further said that he was also ordered by ONSA to “pay N10 million per month to Okupe for more than two years”, which he said was reduced to N5 million per month at the end of 2014 due to shortage of funds.
In addition, Salisu recalled paying another N50 million in cash to Mr. Okupe on the order of Mr. Dasuki, who is also facing charges in the Federal and FCT High Courts in Abuja.
“sometime in 2012 Chief Okupe came to the Office of the National Security Adviser and after their discussion I was ordered to make him a payment of 50 million naira.”
According to him, “Okupe provided his account details, where I paid the amount into the Value Trust Investment bank account.”
