Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP–Kogi Central) has accused the Nigeria Immigration Service of seizing her passport at an airport, alleging that the order came from Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The lawmaker, who recently marked her second anniversary in the Senate with the commissioning of constituency projects in Kogi Central, went live on social media as she confronted immigration officers over what she described as an unlawful restriction of her movement.
In a video obtained on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed that the incident occurred just as she was about to travel abroad for a short break, saying immigration personnel stopped her without presenting any official reason or court order.
“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.
The senator alleged that similar incidents had occurred in the past and that an immigration officer previously informed her the directive came from Senate President Akpabio.
“The officer told me that Senator Akpabio instructed them to withhold my passport because, according to him, each time I travel abroad, I ‘spoil the image of the country’ by granting interviews to international media,” she claimed.
Akpoti-Uduaghan described the action as a gross violation of her fundamental rights, insisting she had committed no offence and that no court order restricted her movement.
She further alleged that President Bola Tinubu had earlier instructed the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to withdraw all court cases filed against her by the Federal Government.
According to her, it took the intervention of an influential figure before her passport was released during a previous encounter with immigration officials.
As of press time, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the Office of the Senate President had publicly responded to the senator’s allegations.
