THE senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of instructing security officials to withhold her international passport and prevent her from traveling abroad.
In a video shared on Tuesday, November 4, the lawmaker expressed frustration as she confronted Immigration officials who allegedly refused to release her passport.
“I’ve just completed my celebration of my second year in office. I decided to take a week off. So, I’m at the airport here, and my passport has been withheld again,” she said in the video.
She added, “The last time this happened, the officer in charge told us that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from traveling because he said each time I travel out of the country, I smear the country’s image by granting interviews to international media.”
The senator described the repeated seizure of her passport as harassment and a violation of her fundamental rights to freedom of movement, vowing to seek legal redress.
“You have no right to withhold my passport. You have no right to deny me exit and entrance into my country. I have not committed any offense and this must stop,” she said.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, visibly frustrated in the video, said she had been standing for more than 20 minutes while officials made calls allegedly to confirm instructions.
She also said that although there were two ongoing cases in court against her by Akpabio, President Bola Tinubu had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to withdraw them after allegedly acknowledging they were politically motivated.
“The president actually spoke with Godswill Akpabio to terminate all the cases against me because he agreed they were politically motivated. So there is no reason why my passport should be withheld at the international airport,” she said.
Meanwhile, after she called out the Immigration officers, they returned her passport. She vowed to challenge their action in court.
As of press time, neither the Nigeria Immigration Service nor the Office of the Senate President had publicly commented on the allegations.
Efforts to reach Akpabio proved abortive as calls, text and Whatsapp messages directed to his spokesperson, Eseme Eyibo, were not answered.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, a Social Democratic Party (SDP) member, has been at the loggerhead with the Senate leadership, particularly its president. She has repeatedly accused the senate leadership of targeting her for political reasons.
Her recent confrontation at the airport adds to a growing list of disputes between her and the leadership.
In her Tuesday’s video, she questioned why the Senate President “overrules boundaries,” adding that repeated efforts to block her movement were “politically vindictive.”
The ICIR reports that the latest incident came barely a month after Akpoti-Uduaghan returned to plenary following a six-month suspension imposed on her by the Senate for allegedly violating its standing rules.
On October 7, the Senate resumed plenary after a ten-week recess, marking Natasha’s first appearance in the chamber since her suspension, with Akpabio presiding over the session.
The senator’s attempts to return before the resumption were blocked, even after the expiration of her suspension in September.
In July, she filed a suit challenging her suspension, arguing that it was politically motivated and unconstitutional. A Federal High Court had ruled that her suspension was illegal and deprived Kogi Central constituents of representation, but the Senate insisted she serves the full term.
The suspension kept her out of plenary, stripped her of salaries, aides’ pay, and other entitlements.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M