Customs refutes ‘arrest’ of Osun gov’s son

CONTRARY to media reports, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos Command of the Nigerian Customs Service has refuted the claims that it arrested the son of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Kabiru, for alleged money laundering last month in Lagos.

It had gone viral that Kabiru was allegedly detained by security officials at the airport on money laundering charges after he was supposedly caught with a huge amount of money.

The Acting Public Relations Officer of the Command, Victor Ogagbo, yesterday said the report was false and had since been refuted.

Ogagbo explained that some people made enquiries regarding the said “arrest”, saying he had told them that the governor’s son was not arrested by the Command anywhere at the Lagos airport.

“The report is false. We did not arrest him. People made enquiry that period and we told them it was false,” Ogagbo said.

The reports had claimed that Kabiru son was on his way to the United Arab Emirates aboard an Emirates Airlines when he was allegedly nabbed.

Meanwhile, the Osun State government had since refuted the claims.

In a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, the government maintained that Kabiru neither travelled nor detained by security agencies for money laundering.

The statement had read, “it has become pertinent to inform Nigerians and others generally that there is no iota of truth in the story being peddled around by some misguided elements, claiming that a son of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Kabir Aregbesola, was arrested at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos with a huge sum of money in foreign currencies.

“We have discovered that the authors of the wicked and malicious lie are doggedly pursuing their agenda by engaging in an aggressive push for the falsehood to reach a larger population, especially using the social media.

“The younger Aregbesola neither travelled anywhere nor had any encounter with any security personnel today. It is obvious the evil minds at work are out to drag an innocent young man’s name into this dirt in order to get at his father.

“Aregbesola has maintained a life of a moderate family man with a set of highly disciplined children who cannot be found wanting on issues of morals and societal values.


“Members of the public are therefore urged to dismiss the falsehood because it is just another handiwork of mischievous minds,”
the statement had stated.