November 04, (THEWILL) — Officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) have allegedly seized the international passport belonging to the Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, preventing her from leaving the country.
The Senator, in a live Facebook video on Tuesday, accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of instructing the agency to prevent her from travelling out of the country.
Natasha, visibly angry over the development, was seen confronting and demanding an explanation from the officers at the airport counter.
“Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?” she asked.
Natasha explained that her decision to leave the country was to take a week off after completing celebrations of her second year in office, stating that she “has committed no offence and there’s no order from the court to withhold her passport.
“The last time this happened, the officer in charge told us that the Senate President Godswill Akpabio told them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling because he said each time I travel out of the country, I smear the country’s image by granting interviews in international media”, the Senator alleged.
“There was no order. Yes, I know I have two Federal Government cases against me, of which the President of Nigeria instructed the Attorney-General of the Federation to cancel and withdraw the cases.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu actually spoke to Godswill Akpabio to terminate all the cases against me because he admitted that they were politically witch-hunting me with cases. So there is no reason why my passport should be withheld at the international airport. You have no right to that, madam”, Natasha added.
While the Nigerian Immigration Service and the Senate President had yet to issue any official response to the allegations, THEWILL reports that the NIS officers released the passport to Senator Natasha after the confrontation.
There was an incident earlier today involving Senator Natasha and Nigerian Immigration at the airport. The immigration officers initially took her e-passport but eventually returned it to her. pic.twitter.com/Go4i0o9o9K
— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) November 4, 2025
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