A mild scene unfolded at a Nigerian airport on Tuesday morning after Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed that immigration officials withheld her international passport on the instructions of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
In a video shared via her official Facebook page, the Kogi Central senator explained that she was stopped by airport personnel who said they had received “orders from above” to confiscate her passport.
“Hello fellow Nigerians, good morning. Having completed my second year in office, I wanted to take a week off. I am at the airport, and my passport has been withheld again,” she said in the recording.
Natasha, who appeared visibly frustrated, disclosed that it was not the first time she had been subjected to such treatment. She alleged that on a previous occasion, a security officer informed her that Akpabio personally instructed the action.
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“The last time this happened, the officer in charge told us that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said each time I travel out of the country, I smear the image of Nigeria by granting interviews to international media,” she alleged.
The senator insisted that she had not violated any law and that there was no court directive authorising the seizure of her passport.
“You have no right to withhold my passport. You have no right to deny me exit and entrance into my country. This must stop! I think I have to sue you for embarrassing me,” she stated, adding that she had been kept waiting for over 20 minutes.
She went on to express anger over what she described as an abuse of power. “Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, has instructed the Comptroller-General of Customs to deny me exit, to withhold my passport,” she said.
Natasha further claimed that President Bola Tinubu had earlier directed that all politically motivated cases against her be discontinued but accused Akpabio of ignoring the President’s instruction.
“There was no order, yes, I know I have two federal government cases against me, but the President ordered that they be terminated because he admitted they were politically witch-hunting cases,” she said.
After a prolonged argument, Natasha revealed that the officers eventually released her passport, which she displayed on camera as proof.
As of the time of filing this report, neither Senate President Godswill Akpabio nor the Nigeria Customs Service had issued a response to the senator’s allegations.