Court Orders Immediate Release of Odili’s Seized Passport

• Court Orders Immediate Release Of Peter Odili’s Passport Seized By Immigration
• The former governor also demanded a written apology from the immigration.

Ekohotblog reports that a federal high court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to immediately release the passport of Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers state.

In a judgement issued on Monday, the judge, known as Inyang Ekwo, stated that the NIS’s action against the former governor had no legal validity.

Remember that Odili had gone to court to contest the NIS’s confiscation of his passport.

He told the court that his passport with number B50031305 was seized from him on June 20 by NIS officials for an undisclosed reason, shortly after he landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

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“However, while waiting for my luggage, an official of the immigration service came over to me and demanded for my international passport aforesaid,” Odili stated in his affidavits in support of the suit.

“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.”

Odili had asked the court to order the two respondents to return his passport, as well as a permanent injunction prohibiting the respondents from harassing, humiliating, frightening, or interfering with his basic right to freedom of movement in the future.

The former governor also asked that the immigration department issue a formal apology.

The NIS and its comptroller-general are named as respondents in the case.

The NIS attempted to explain the confiscation of Odili’s passport in its answer to the action, claiming that it was triggered by an EFCC request.

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In its response to the suit, the NIS tried to justify the seizure of Odili’s passport, saying it was prompted by a request from the EFCC.

“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 service had told the court.