The Nigerian Immigration Service has denied claims by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan that its officers seized her passport and tried to stop her from travelling.
The senator representing Kogi Central had earlier gone live on Facebook on Tuesday morning, alleging that immigration officers at the airport withheld her passport without any legal reason.
“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.
Visibly upset, she accused the officers of harassment and threatened legal action. “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.
Minutes later, one of the officers handed back her passport, prompting her to say, “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?”
In response, the NIS spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, said there was no attempt to stop the senator from travelling and explained that the officers were only carrying out standard checks.
“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” Akinlabi told Channels Television.
He added, “The officers may take your passport for verification, but that doesn’t mean it was seized as alleged. She has since been allowed to travel. Perhaps while waiting for the checks to be completed, she assumed she was being stopped.”
Akinlabi further noted that the senator’s video was made during the verification process but she did not share an update after being cleared. “She has travelled since then. The passport was never seized,” he said.
When asked if Senator Natasha resisted handing over her passport, Akinlabi said he could not confirm that. “The officers conducting the checks are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done, which they did,” he said.
Immigration officers at the scene were heard apologising in the background of the senator’s video, as they attempted to calm her down before returning her passport.
