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By Myke Agunwa, Abuja
Senator representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has once again accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of using the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to victimise her by allegedly confiscating her passport.
In a video posted on her official Facebook page on Tuesday, the senator claimed that officers of the NIS seized her passport at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, acting on what she described as “orders from above.”
Visibly upset, Akpoti-Uduaghan said, “Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?”
The lawmaker explained that she had just celebrated two years in office and decided to take a week off, but at the airport, her passport was withheld by NIS officials.
“This same thing happened before, and my passport was seized, yet there is no court order to withhold my passport or deny me the chance to travel. The last time this happened, the office in charge told us that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from traveling because he said that each time I travel out of the country, I damage the country’s image by granting interviews to the international media. Can you tell them to release my passport? This embarrassment should stop,” she demanded.
“This is intimidation taken too far. I am a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My passport is my right, not a privilege. I demand that it be released immediately,” she added in the video.
She called on Nigerians and the international community to “take note of the abuse of power and intimidation of elected representatives who dare to question authority.”
The senator, who has been locked in an ongoing conflict with Akpabio over what she had described as “harassment and legislative bullying,” had earlier this year served a six-month suspension from the Senate following a confrontation with the Senate leadership. She was later reinstated after widespread public criticism and intervention by civil society groups.
In a surprising move after her reinstatement, Akpoti-Uduaghan recently extended an invitation to Senate President Akpabio to attend the commissioning of a major constituency project in Kogi Central, a gesture many saw as an attempt to mend fences and promote legislative harmony.
As of press time, neither the Senate President nor the Nigeria Immigration Service had issued any official response to the senator’s latest allegation.