Drama at Airport as Immigration Seizes Senator Natasha’s Passport, She Accuses Akpabio of Ordering Action

Drama at Airport as Immigration Seizes Senator Natasha’s Passport, She Accuses Akpabio of Ordering Action

Nigerian lawmaker, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP–Kogi Central), has alleged that officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) confiscated her passport at an international airport, preventing her from travelling out of the country.

The incident occurred shortly after she marked her second year in the Senate and commissioned several constituency projects across Kogi Central.

In a video streamed live on social media, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan expressed frustration as she questioned immigration officials over the confiscation of her passport. She accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio of ordering the action.

“Hello, fellow Nigerians. I’m Senator Natasha. Having completed my second year in office, I decided to take a week off. I’m at the airport here, and my passport has been withheld again,” she said.

She recalled a previous incident where she was similarly stopped from travelling despite having no legal restrictions placed on her movement.

“This same thing happened before when I was stopped from travelling even though I had committed no offence and there was no court order restricting me. The last time this happened, the officer in charge told me that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling because he claimed that each time I go abroad, I ‘spoil the image of the country’ by granting interviews to international media.”

According to her, on the earlier occasion, her passport was released only after “the intervention of a certain influential person.”

Read also: Women Taught to Embrace Shame, Stay Silent — Senator Natasha

She further alleged: “Godswill Akpabio has instructed the Controller General of Customs to withhold my passport. This is wrong.”

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan also claimed that President Bola Tinubu had ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to withdraw all cases filed against her by the Federal Government.

Reports later confirmed that immigration officials returned her passport.

This development comes months after the senator was suspended following a dispute with Akpabio over seat reallocation in the Senate. She resumed legislative duties on September 24, 2025, following the expiration of the suspension.