Officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service on Tuesday, November 4, 2024, at the Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport reportedly seized the international passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan in a live Facebook broadcast on Tuesday morning, alleged that the action was carried out on the orders of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who said that she was on her way out out of the country for a deserved rest after the celebration of her second year in office as a senator of the Federal Republic, said that her passport was seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service allegedly on the orders of Senator Akpabio.
She further alleged that Akpabio directed that she should be stopped from travelling in order not to go and grant an interview to the international media and say things that would embarrass the country.
In the words of Akpoti-Uduaghan; “Having completed the celebration of my second year, I decided to take a week off, and my passport is being withheld again. The same thing happened before”.
Akpoti-Uduaghan insisted that she did not commit any offence, stressing that more importantly, there was no court order authorising the seizure of her travel document.
She specifically said; “I have committed no offence, and there is no order from any court to seize my passport or deny me from travelling”.
Akpoti-Uduaghan also alleged that during a similar incident in the past, an airport official disclosed that the instruction to hold her passport came from the Senate President.
“The last time it happened, the officer in charge told us that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling,” she claimed.
As of the time of publication of this story, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the Office of the President of the Senate had issued any statement on the matter.
