Willie Obiano, the immediate former governor of Anambra State, explains why he tried to leave Nigeria hours after he handed over to his successor, Chukwuma Soludo.
Obiano handed over power to Soludo on Thursday, March 17 and was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos a few hours later while trying to leave the country.
In an interview with Premium Times, Obiano, through his lawyer, Patrick Ikwueto (a Senior Advocate of Nigeria), said he was not running away but was rather hurrying to keep a doctor’s appointment to treat a “semi fatal condition”.
“He was not running away. Why will he run away when his family is here and he has a lot to do here? The fact is that he (Obiano) has a medical condition for which he had a prior appointment to see his Specialist Doctor for treatment at Spring Creek Urology Specialists LLC, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
“By the nature of his ailment, he has been undergoing treatment at the said Specialist Hospital since June 2021 and had an appointment earlier scheduled for the final stage of Specialist Radiography for eight (8) weeks – which will take place immediately upon his arrival at the Facility in Houston, Texas, U.S.A; and thereafter, after four days. Subsequent treatments are scheduled every day for a period of eight (8) weeks,” he said.
Ikwueto said the former governor had since mid-last year received treatment at the US medical facility every three months.
The last time he was there