On Tuesday morning, a tense scene unfolded at the airport involving Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central. The Senator publicly accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of instructing officials to seize her international passport, allegedly to prevent her from leaving Nigeria.
In a Facebook Live broadcast streamed directly from the terminal, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared visibly distressed as she confronted immigration officers, claiming her passport had been withheld for more than 20 minutes. She questioned the authority of the Senate President, asking, “Is Godswill Akpabio so important that he can overrule boundaries?” She further alleged that Akpabio had ordered the Comptroller-General of Customs to deny her exit, which she described as an unlawful action.
The Senator claimed this was not an isolated incident. She recalled a previous occasion when her passport was withheld because she was accused of damaging Nigeria’s image through interviews given abroad. On that occasion, it reportedly took intervention from an influential figure for her passport to be returned. During the live video, she demanded the immediate release of her passport, saying, “Tell them to release my passport.”
Background audio from the live stream captured immigration officers apologizing, but Akpoti-Uduaghan dismissed the apologies, insisting on receiving her passport. She emphasized that there was no legal basis for the seizure, noting that President Bola Tinubu had instructed the Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw two federal cases previously brought against her. According to Akpoti-Uduaghan, Tinubu personally directed Akpabio to end all politically motivated cases against her, making the passport seizure unjustifiable.
The Senator maintained that she had attended all her court sessions, was not a flight risk, and had not violated any law. “There is no court order. I am not a flight risk. I am not a threat to my country. So why am I being treated like a criminal?” she asked.
Eventually, one of the male immigration officers returned her passport. Even after regaining it, Akpoti-Uduaghan appeared shaken, reflecting on the situation: “Sometimes you have to be a rebel to get things right. If I hadn’t gone public, would you have returned my passport?”
As of the time of this report, neither the office of the Senate President nor the Nigerian Immigration Service had released an official statement regarding the incident.
