Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan alleges immigration officers seized her passport for 20 minutes at Abuja Airport, claims political interference
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has alleged that immigration officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, briefly seized her international passport on Tuesday morning./
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In a live broadcast on her Facebook page, the Kogi Central senator claimed she was prevented from boarding a flight after officials withheld her passport for about 20 minutes.
“Having completed the celebration of my second year, I decided to take a week off, and my passport is being withheld again. The same thing happened before,” Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan said during the live stream.
The lawmaker insisted that she had not committed any offence and that there was no court order authorising the seizure of her travel document.
She also alleged that a similar incident in the past was politically motivated, claiming that an airport official had hinted the instruction to withhold her passport came from the Senate President’s office.
In the video, an immigration officer was later seen returning the passport to the senator after the delay.
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As of the time of filing this report, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) nor the Office of the Senate President had issued an official response to the allegation.
David Okere is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering business, governance, public affairs, and human-interest stories with a commitment to accuracy, balance, and public interest reporting.
