By Attah Ede
The senator representing Kogi central senatorial district, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on Tuesday, raised the alarm that the Nigerian immigration officers have seized her passport at an airport, thereby
denying her from traveling abroad.
In a video obtained on Tuesday, she accused Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, of giving the order for her passport to be seized.
Just few days ago, Senator Natasha marked her two years anniversary in the Senate by commissioning projects in Kogi Central.
The lawmaker went live on social media at an airport as she questioned immigration officials over the alleged confiscation of her passport.
She described the action as an unlawful restriction of her movement and a gross violation of her fundamental rights.
“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 in the video.
“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.”
She stated that it was only after the intervention of a certain influential person that her passport was released the last time such an incident happened where she was also prevented from going to overseas.
“Godswill Akpabio has instructed the Controller General of Customs to withhold my passport. This is wrong,” the lawmaker said.
She claimed that President Bola Tinubu had instructed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, to withdraw all cases in the court filed by the Federal Government against her.
The lawmaker was involved in a high-profile dispute with Akpabio in February over seat reallocation in the Senate, which escalated into her six-month suspension, effective March 6, 2025.
She, however, resumed her duties on September 24, 2025 and ever since then, her relationship with other colleagues is still watery. Passport at airport
