Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has accused Nigerian immigration officials of preventing her from travelling abroad after allegedly seizing her passport without any legal justification.
The lawmaker raised the alarm in a Facebook Live broadcast on Tuesday morning, openly confronting the officers and questioning their authority.
“Have I committed any offence? Why are you withholding my passport?” she asked during the livestream.
According to Akpoti-Uduaghan, the incident occurred just days after she marked her second anniversary in office. She claimed it was not the first time she had been harassed by immigration personnel, recalling an earlier encounter where she was allegedly stopped on the orders of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
“The last time this happened, the officer said Senator Akpabio instructed them to prevent me from travelling because I ‘smear the country’s image’ in international interviews,” she alleged.
The senator insisted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had previously directed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to withdraw all politically motivated cases against her, stressing that she had no travel restrictions or court orders barring her from leaving Nigeria.
“You have no right to withhold my passport or deny me exit from my country. I have committed no offence. I think I have to sue you for continuously embarrassing me,” she declared.
During the heated exchange, immigration officials were heard apologising before eventually returning her passport.
Akpoti-Uduaghan currently faces two ongoing court cases in Abuja — one for alleged criminal defamation and another under the Cybercrime Act. The next hearing is scheduled for 24 November 2025.
The senator, who only recently returned to plenary after a six-month suspension for alleged misconduct, described the repeated harassment at airports as unjustified and politically motivated.