Drama at Airport as Senator Natasha confronts immigration officers over seized passport

In a tense scene at an airport on Tuesday morning, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of directing immigration officials to confiscate her international passport in an alleged attempt to prevent her from travelling abroad.

During a Facebook Live broadcast from the airport terminal, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared visibly distressed as she confronted immigration officers who, according to her, had held onto her passport for over 20 minutes.

“Is Godswill Akpabio so important? Why is he overruling boundaries?” she demanded. “Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, has instructed the Comptroller-General of Customs to deny me exit and to withhold my passport. This is wrong.”

The lawmaker alleged that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred. “The last time this happened, he claimed that whenever I travel, I tarnish the country’s image by granting interviews. It took the intervention of someone influential before they released my passport. Tell them to release it now,” she said.

In the background of the live video, some immigration officers could be heard apologising. One officer said, “We are sorry, ma,” to which Akpoti-Uduaghan responded, “Don’t tell me sorry—just give me my passport.”

She insisted that there was no legal justification for the seizure. “There was no order. Yes, I know I have two Federal Government cases against me—cases which the President of Nigeria directed the Attorney-General to withdraw,” she stated.

According to her, President Bola Tinubu had personally instructed Akpabio to ensure that all politically motivated cases against her were terminated. “The President actually spoke to Godswill Akpabio to end all the cases against me because he admitted they were politically motivated. So there is no reason why my passport should be withheld at the international airport. You have no right to that, madam,” she said.

She continued, “There is no court order. I have not missed any court appearances. I’ve attended every session. I am not a flight risk and I pose no threat to my country. So why am I being treated like a criminal? Can I have my passport, please?”

Moments later, one of the immigration officers returned the passport to her. Still visibly shaken, Akpoti-Uduaghan remarked, “Sometimes you just have to be a rebel to make things right. And then they keep asking Nigerians to be good citizens. If I hadn’t gone public, would you have returned my passport?”

As of the time of filing this report, neither the office of the Senate President nor the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) had issued an official statement regarding the incident.