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The NIS spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, said that the incident was merely part of standard immigration checks and not an act of harassment or obstruction as alleged by the lawmaker.
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has dismissed allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, that its officers seized her passport at the airport in an attempt to stop her from travelling.
The NIS spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, said that the incident was merely part of standard immigration checks and not an act of harassment or obstruction as alleged by the lawmaker.
“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” Akinlabi explained, according to Channels Television.
The NIS spokesperson said that the officers were carrying out their lawful duties, which sometimes require temporarily holding travellers’ passports during verification.
“The NIS officers needed to conduct their checks. They may take your passport to do so, 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 from travelling,” he added.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan on Tuesday morning alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio ordered Nigerian immigration officers to seize her international passport at the airport, preventing her from travelling abroad.
In a video obtained by SaharaReporters, the lawmaker was seen questioning immigration officials at the airport over the alleged confiscation of her passport.
She described the action as an unlawful restriction of her movement and a gross violation of her fundamental rights.
“Hello, fellow Nigerians. I’m Senator Natasha. Having completed my second year in office, I decided to take a week off. I’m at the airport here, and my passport has been withheld again,” she said in the video.
“This same thing happened before when I was stopped from travelling even though I had committed no offence, and there was no court order restricting me.
“The officer in charge told me that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling because he claimed that each time I go abroad, I ‘spoil the image of the country’ by granting interviews to international media,” she added.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed frustration over what she described as repeated harassment and intimidation, urging authorities to intervene and end the “embarrassment.”
The NIS officers released the passport following outrage over what she described as an unlawful and politically motivated seizure of her travel documents at a Nigerian airport.
But Akinlabi said that the senator recorded the video during the verification process but failed to update the public after being cleared to proceed with her journey.
“She has travelled since then. The video was made while she was going through the checks, not after. The passport was never seized,” Akinlabi stated.
When asked whether the senator resisted handing over her passport for inspection, Akinlabi said he could not confirm that aspect of the incident.
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “But the officers conducting the checks are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done, which they did.”
SAHARA REPORTERS
