By Legal Linkz Newsroom | November 4, 2025 | Abuja
The Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of orchestrating the seizure of her international passport by officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at an airport in Nigeria, effectively preventing her from travelling abroad.
In a video obtained by SaharaReporters and verified on Tuesday, the lawmaker is seen questioning immigration officers over the alleged confiscation of her passport, describing the action as unlawful and a blatant violation of her fundamental rights to freedom of movement.
“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 stated in the video.
She further alleged that the directive to confiscate her passport emanated from the Senate President, Senator Akpabio, who, according to her, accused her of “spoiling the image of the country” through her interviews with international media whenever she travels abroad.
“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 Senator continued.
“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.’”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan described the experience as “a deliberate attempt to intimidate and silence” her, calling on relevant authorities to intervene and put an end to what she termed persistent harassment.
“This harassment must stop. I have every right as a Nigerian citizen to move freely, and this repeated embarrassment is unacceptable,” she lamented.
As of press time, neither the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) nor the Office of the Senate President had issued any official response to the allegations.
Previous Petition Against Akpabio
This latest incident adds to a series of ongoing disputes between Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Akpabio. Earlier this year, on May 19, 2025, SaharaReporters reported that the Kogi Central lawmaker had petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, accusing Akpabio of masterminding a coordinated smear campaign intended to discredit her and silence her sexual harassment allegations against him.
In the petition filed through her legal counsel, Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa, SAN, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that her life, reputation, and political career were being targeted in a “malicious campaign of criminal defamation, cyberstalking, conspiracy, and attempted assassination,” purportedly engineered by Akpabio and his associates.
According to the petition, the campaign reportedly began shortly after the senator publicly accused Akpabio of sexual harassment during a televised interview on February 28, 2025. The document details how an online figure known as “Professor Mgbeke”—later identified as Dr. Sandra Chidinma Duru, a Texas-based Nigerian—allegedly spearheaded the defamation campaign against the senator.
“Immediately after our client declined any form of transactional engagement, ‘Prof. Mgbeke’ began what evolved into a deliberate, malicious, and coordinated campaign of character assassination,” the petition stated.
The petition also claimed that Dr. Duru inadvertently exposed her phone’s call log during a live broadcast on May 1, 2025, revealing saved contacts including ‘Senator Akpabio’ (with two different numbers), ‘My Daddy Directline’, ‘IGP Kayode’, and ‘Oby Ndukwe’, which the senator’s legal team interpreted as proof of a coordinated operation.
While the allegations have generated widespread public interest, both Senate President Akpabio and Dr. Sandra Duru have yet to publicly respond to the renewed claims.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups and women’s advocacy organizations have begun calling for an independent investigation into the alleged misuse of state institutions to target female lawmakers and critics of the political establishment.
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