Immigration officers at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, reportedly seized the international passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central) for about 20 minutes.
Speaking in a live Facebook broadcast on Tuesday morning, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she had planned a short getaway following the celebration of her second year in office, but was prevented from travelling when airport officials temporarily withheld her passport.
“Having completed the celebration of my second year, I decided to take a week off, and my passport is being withheld again. The same thing happened before,” she said.
The Senator insisted that she had committed no offence and that there was no court order authorising the seizure of her travel document.
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She alleged that during a similar incident in the past, an airport official disclosed that the instruction to withhold her passport came from the Senate President.
In the video, Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed she had stood for 20 minutes without her passport being returned to her.
An immigration official was seen handing over the passport to Akpoti-Uduaghan in the video.
As of press time, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the Office of the Senate President had commented on the allegation.
