"We never seized her passport"- Immigration denies Senator Natasha Akpoti allegation
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.