A CONTROVERSY raged on Wednesday over the alleged arrest of the wife of Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi in London.
Ajimobi’s wife, Florence, was alleged to have been arrested by the London Metropolitan Police over her involvement in the laundering of £400,000 (about N500 million.)
But the Oyo State government denied the report. It went further to institute a N1 billion suit against the Independent Communications Network Limited, publishers of PM News over its report on the arrest of Mrs. Ajimobi on the allegation of money laundering.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Festus Adedayo, he stated that the government of Oyo State had the responsibility to ensure that the media does not become an instrument in the hands of blackmailers for such acts.
The statement read 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.”
The government said that though it had a lot of respect for the media, there was the need to take the owners of the tabloid to court to explain the details of their reports to the rest of the world.
The government decried what it called “dirty politicking” by the opposition in the state who use the media for the propagation of their falsehood, stating that the courts would be able to compel those behind this wicked lie to provide details of the veracity or otherwise of their claims on the governor’s wife.
London Met Police Confirms Arrest of Oyo Gov's Wife, Florence Ajimobi, For Money Laundering! - PMNews
London Metropolitan Police has confirmed the arrest of Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of Oyo state Governor, over money laundering.
The Met confirmation came this afternoon following an enquiry by P.M.NEWS on the story making the rounds that Mrs. Ajimobi was arrested in London, with the sum of 400,000 pounds and thousands of US dollars, valued at N500million.
The Met simply said ‘Yes’ to our question, seeking confirmation about the arrest.
However, the organization declined to give further information about the matter, citing a UK law.
“I am sorry, we are unable to disclose any information to you under the Data Protection Act,” an officer in the MET Lambeth Office responded.
There was anxiety in the government circles of Nigeria’s Oyo State this morning over the arrest of Mrs. Ajimobi.
Reports on the web and some blogs claimed that the woman was arrested two weeks ago by the London Metropolitan Police on her 52nd trip to the UK since her husband became governor 17 months ago.
London Met Police has not issued any statement about her alleged arrest. And her name drew blank in a search of the Met Police website by P.M.NEWS.
The unconfirmed reports claimed that Governor Abiola Ajimobi has had to fly to the UK to get her bailed. Mrs. Ajimobi has a North London address in Golders Green and ordinarily visits the UK.
So far, the Oyo state government has kept mute over this story. And the disappearance of Governor Ajimobi from Ibadan, the capital for some two days has further given some ammunition to the purveyors of the news about his wife, styled The First Lady of Oyo state.
Governor Ajimobi was in office today, but bearers of the tale about the wife, have been unrelenting.
Mrs. Ajimobi’s personal staff at Agodi have also not issued denials of any sort.
Miss Yemisi Dada, Special Assistant on Media to Chief Mrs. Ajimobi on a phone interaction at exactly 8:11am claimed that she was not in Ibadan at the time of the telephone conversation adding that she was not aware of such development.
“I cannot talk about that. I am not aware of what you are talking about and besides, I am not in Ibadan right now. Meanwhile, I will find out the correct situation and get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks”.
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