Wednesday, November 5, 2025 - The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied claims that its officers seized the passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan at the airport today, November 4.
In an interview with Channels TV, the spokesperson of the
service, Akinsola Akinlabi, explained that the incident was part of routine
immigration procedures.
“NIS didn’t
seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine
immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” the service’s spokesperson said.
Speaking further, Akinlabi clarified that officers were only
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 said
The immigration spokesperson noted that the Kogi senator
made her video during the routine process but did not post an update after
being cleared to fly.
“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 if Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted handing over
her passport for inspection, Akinlabi said he could not confirm that.
‘’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.” he said
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