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”.