By Joe Udo
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – The Nigeria Immigration Service officials have seized the international passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, senator representing Kogi Central, preventing her from travelling abroad.
According to SaharaReporters, Akpoti-Uduaghan was seen in a viral video questioning immigration officials at the airport over the alleged confiscation of her passport.
She alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio ordered the Immigration officers to seize her international passport at the airport.
She described the action as an unlawful restriction of her movement and a gross 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.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed frustration over what she described as repeated harassment and intimidation, urging authorities to intervene and end the “embarrassment.”
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As of the time of filing this report, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the office of the Senate President had issued an official response to the allegations.
Recall that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, on 19th May, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, accusing Senate President Akpabio of masterminding a coordinated smear campaign aimed at discrediting her and silencing her sexual harassment allegations.
In the petition submitted through her legal team led by Dr Ehiogie West-Idahosa, SAN, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that her safety, reputation, and political career are under attack in what she describes as a “malicious campaign of criminal defamation, cyber-stalking, conspiracy, and attempted assassination” engineered by the Senate President.
