‘Akpabio Ordered Them to Seize My Passport’ — Senator Natasha Cries Out
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, has accused immigration officers of unlawfully seizing her international passport at the airport while she attempted to travel abroad on Tuesday morning.
In a Facebook Live video streamed directly from the airport terminal, the visibly emotional senator confronted immigration officials, alleging that the order to withhold her passport came from Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
“Is Godswill Akpabio so important? Why is he overruling boundaries? Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, has instructed the Comptroller-General of Customs to deny me exit, to withhold my passport. This is wrong,” she lamented.
Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed that the incident mirrored a previous occurrence in which her passport was seized for the same reason.
“The last time this happened, he said every time I travel out, I smear the country’s image by granting interviews. It took someone influential to call before they released my passport. Tell them to release my passport,” she said.
During the live broadcast, immigration officers could be heard apologizing, with one saying, “We are sorry, ma,” to which the senator replied:
“Do not tell me sorry—let me have my passport.”
She further maintained that there was no legal order authorizing the seizure, insisting that all pending cases against her had been withdrawn on the directive of President Bola Tinubu.
“There was no order. Yes, I know I have two Federal Government cases against me—of which the President of Nigeria instructed the Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw,” she stated.
According to her, President Tinubu had personally asked Akpabio to ensure that all politically motivated cases against her were terminated.
“The President actually spoke to Godswill Akpabio to terminate all the cases against me because he admitted they were politically witch-hunting me. So, there is no reason why my passport should be withheld at the international airport. I am not a flight risk, I have attended all my court sessions, and I am not a criminal,” she said.
Moments later, one of the immigration officers returned her passport. A relieved but visibly shaken Akpoti-Uduaghan remarked:
“Sometimes I think you just have to be a rebel to get things right. Then, you keep asking Nigerians to be good citizens. If I had not gone public, would you have given me back my passport?”
Watch the video below 👇