Yemi Obafemi
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, that its officers prevented her from travelling abroad and unlawfully withheld her passport.
The lawmaker had earlier raised alarm during a live broadcast on her Facebook page on Tuesday morning, accusing immigration officials at the airport of seizing her passport without any legal justification.
“Having completed my second-year celebration, I decided to take a week off. I’m at the airport, and my passport has been withheld again. Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?” she said during the livestream.
The visibly upset senator claimed that although she had two pending federal cases, President Bola Tinubu had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw them.
“This is wrong. There was no order. You have no right to withhold my passport or deny me exit from my country. I have committed no offence, and this must stop,” she said.
“I think I have to sue you for continuously embarrassing me. There is no court order. I have attended all my court sessions and I am not a flight risk. Why are you treating me like a criminal?”
Moments later, one of the officers returned her passport, prompting her to question whether going live on social media influenced the decision.
“Can I have my passport, please? Thank you very much. Sometimes you just have to be a rebel to get things right. If I had not gone public, would you have given me my passport?” she asked, as immigration officers could be heard apologising in the background.
However, reacting to the allegation, NIS spokesperson Akinsola Akinlabi dismissed the senator’s claims in an interview with Channels Television, insisting that her passport was never seized.
“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport. She went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” Akinlabi said.
He explained that the officers were only performing their statutory duties, which sometimes involve taking a passport temporarily for verification.
“The officers needed to conduct their checks. They may take your passport to do so, but that doesn’t mean it was seized as alleged,” he explained.
“She has since been allowed to travel. Perhaps while waiting for the checks to be completed, she assumed she was being stopped from travelling. The video was made while she was going through the checks, not after. The passport was never seized,” Akinlabi added.
