A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to immediately release the passport of the former governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili.
Delivering judgement on the matter on Monday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, declared that there was no legal justification for the action the NIS took against the former governor.
“No citizen of this country should be treated like this, irrespective of class or social status,” he said.
Recall that NIS operatives had on June 20, 2021 seized Odili’s passport upon his arrival from a trip to the United Kingdom.
Consequently, Odili sued the NIS and its comptroller general to retrieve his passport.
He told the court that his passport with number B50031305 was seized by NIS officials for an undisclosed reason, shortly after he landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
“However, while waiting for my luggage, an official of the immigration service came over to me and demanded for my international passport aforesaid.
“I demanded to know why he wanted it, and he stated that it was for a routine check, and that same will be given back to me the following day.
“No official explanation, other than the above conversation, was given to me. I gave him the passport, and up till now, same has not been returned to me.
“The seizure of my passport by the respondents has denied me movements in and out of Nigeria, thereby restricting my movement in violation of my constitutional right to freedom of movement.
“I know as a fact that I am a very senior citizen of Nigeria, law-abiding and I have done nothing to have warranted the seizure of my passport by the respondents,” the former governor stated in his affidavits in support of the suit.
Odili had prayed the court to compel the two respondents to release the passport to him and he also sought a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from further harassing, embarrassing, intimidating or interfering with his fundamental right to freedom of movement.
The former governor also demanded a written apology from the service.
Cited as respondents in the matter are the NIS and the comptroller-general.
Defending the action, the NIS said the order to confiscate the passport was based on the request from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which claimed he was on a watch-list.
“The applicant’s passport was seized because he is on the service’s (NIS’) watch list as requested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC),” the NIS said.
