The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied claims by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, that its officers seized her passport at the airport.
In an interview on Tuesday, NIS spokesperson Akinsola Akinlabi explained that the senator merely underwent routine immigration checks before being cleared to travel.
“The NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport. She went through standard immigration procedures and was allowed to travel,” Akinlabi said.
He clarified that immigration officers are required to verify travel documents and may temporarily hold passports during the process but must return them once checks are complete.
“They may take your passport for verification, but that doesn’t mean it was seized as alleged. She has since travelled. Perhaps while waiting for the checks to be completed, she assumed she was being stopped,” he added.
According to Akinlabi, the video posted by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was recorded during the checks, not after she had been cleared.
“She made the video while going through routine inspection. The passport was never withheld,” he stressed.
When asked whether the senator resisted handing over her passport, the NIS spokesperson said he could not confirm that but maintained that the officers acted within their authority.
“Officers are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done — which they did,” Akinlabi stated. Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused immigration officials of unlawfully withholding her passport at the airport in a live broadcast on her Facebook page.
“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 in the video.
The lawmaker, who appeared visibly upset, described the action as harassment and claimed there was no legal justification for it.
“You have no right to withhold my passport or deny me exit from my country. I have committed no offence, and this must stop,” she said, threatening to sue the service for what she called “continuous embarrassment.”
Minutes later, one of the officers returned her passport during the livestream, prompting her to remark: “Sometimes you just have to be a rebel to get things right. If I hadn’t gone public, would you have given me my passport?”
Immigration officers could be heard apologising and attempting to calm the senator as the incident concluded.
