The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan that its officers confiscated her passport and attempted to prevent her from leaving the country on Tuesday
The lawmaker representing Kogi Central had earlier gone live on Facebook, claiming immigration officers at the airport withheld her passport without any legal justification.
In the viral video, she expressed frustration, questioning why she was being stopped despite no court order restricting her movement.
“Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?” she asked, adding that even though she has two pending federal cases, President Bola Tinubu had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw them.
She also said she had never missed any court appearance and accused the officers of harassment, saying, “You can’t keep doing this every time. I am not a flight risk or a criminal. This must stop.”
Moments later, her passport was returned, prompting her to remark, “Sometimes you just have to be a rebel to get things right. If I hadn’t gone public, would you have given me my passport?”
Reacting to the incident, NIS spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, dismissed the senator’s claim, explaining that she was only subjected to routine immigration checks.
“NIS didn’t seize her passport. She went through the normal immigration process and was cleared to travel,” Akinlabi said.
He clarified that temporarily taking a passport for verification does not amount to seizure. “The officers were only doing their job. The passport was returned, and she has since travelled,” he added.
Akinlabi noted that by the time her video started circulating, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had already boarded her flight. He declined to confirm whether she resisted handing over the passport but maintained that the checks were legitimate and completed without incident.
