The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio directed Nigerian immigration officials to seize her international passport at the airport, thereby preventing her from travelling abroad.
The incident reportedly occurred at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja when the lawmaker arrived to embark on a private trip overseas.
In a video obtained on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan was seen engaging immigration officers in a heated exchange over the alleged confiscation of her passport.
She condemned the action as an unlawful restriction of her movement and a blatant 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.
The lawmaker expressed frustration over what she described as persistent harassment and intimidation, calling on relevant authorities to intervene and put an end to the “embarrassment.”
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Nigerian Immigration Service nor the Office of the Senate President had issued an official response to the allegations.
