Immigration Denies Withholding Natasha’s Passport at Airport

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has refuted claims by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central that its officers withheld her passport at the airport.

Akinsola Akinlabi, spokesperson for the NIS, on Tuesday stated that the incident was part of routine immigration procedures and not an attempt to block the senator from travelling.

“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel”, he said.

Akinlabi explained that the officers were simply performing their statutory duties.

“The NIS officers needed to conduct their checks. They may take your passport to do so, but that doesn’t mean it was seized as alleged. She has since been allowed to travel. Perhaps while waiting for the checks to be completed, she assumed she was being stopped from travelling,” he added.

READ ALSO: Immigration Have Seized My Passport at Airport – Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan

The spokesperson further noted that the senator recorded her video while undergoing the checks, but did not post an update after being cleared. “She has travelled since then. The video was made while she was going through the checks, not after. The passport was never seized,” Akinlabi said.

When asked whether Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted handing over her passport, Akinlabi said he could not confirm: “I don’t know about that. But the officers conducting the checks are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done, which they did.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had raised the alarm during a live broadcast on her Facebook page, alleging that immigration officials prevented her from travelling abroad and withheld her passport without legal justification.