The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has refuted claims by the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, that its officers withheld her passport at the airport.
The immigration spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, told Channels Television on Tuesday that the incident was a routine immigration procedure.
“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” the service’s spokesperson said.
Akinlabi explained that the officers were only carrying out their statutory duties.
“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 said.
He added that the senator recorded her video during the standard procedure but did not post an update after being cleared to fly.
“She has travelled since then. The video was made while she was going through the checks, not after. The passport was never seized,” Akinlabi said.
When asked whether Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted handing over her passport for inspection, Akinlabi said he could not confirm that.
“I don’t know about that,” he replied. “But the officers conducting the checks are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done, which they did.”
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Earlier, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had alleged during a live broadcast on her Facebook page that immigration officers at the airport stopped her from travelling abroad.
“Having completed my second-year celebration, I decided to take a week off. I’m at the airport, and my passport has been withheld again. Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?” she said to the officials during the livestream.
“This is wrong. There was no order. Yes, I know I have two federal government cases against me, of which the president of Nigeria instructed the AGF to cancel the cases, to withdraw the cases.”