Modupe Odele, a member of #EndSARS Legal Aide, announced on Monday the retrieval of her passport eight days after she was prevented from travelling out of Nigeria.
Also, the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, said it had released her passport.
She made this known in a tweet after retrieving the passport saying:
“Passport now picked up,” “No issues.”
Odele, who was instrumental to the protests against police brutality in Nigeria, was prevented from travelling out of the country on Sunday, November 2.
She tweeted: “Passport now picked up. No issues. I’m told I can travel at any time. Thank you so much everyone for the help and concern.”
She earlier complained that “(On the) 1st of November, I was stopped and my passport was taken some minutes to board this flight. No reason was given, other than “you are under investigation”.
“Holding on to my passport without giving me any reason for it is a breach of my constitutional right. I’ve not been informed of any investigation against me, I’m not running. I am here. Investigate.”
NIS returned the passport the ninth day after it was seized.
Odele, who provided legal assistance to protesters who were unjustly arrested by the authorities, was stopped at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Sunday on her way to the Maldives through Dubai.
However, NIS said her passport was seized as part of routine border assignment.
NIS spokesman, Mr. Sunday James, said, “When there is a directive from any agency of government not specific, we have to enforce either entry or restriction of entry by anybody who has been directed not to be allowed exit or entry and as a matter of fact, we cannot as a border management agency, allow anybody who has been restricted from leaving the country to go out and we cannot allow anybody who has been restricted from entry to enter.
“So, it is a routine assignment and it has nothing to do with End SARS. We are the lead agency for the security management of the border. It has to do with the restriction order which we are duty-bound to enforce.”
Immigration had asked Odele to come and pick her passport on Friday at 04 pm but could not meet up.
Dubbed #EndSARS protests, young Nigerians took to the streets for about two weeks to press home their demands for the scrapping of the notorious police unit – Special Anti-Robbery Squad – and reformation of the police force.
She was among those who coordinated the provision of legal, medical and security support for the protesters, especially in Lagos.
But Odele, till the time of the report, did not disclose the reason why her passport was seized and by whom. Many believed that it could be connected to her role in the #EndSARS protests.
A media report on Monday claimed that Odele and other influential figures in the two-week protest against police brutality have been placed on a ‘no-travel’ by the Nigerian government.
The report claimed that about six influential people that participated in the two-week protest have been banned from travelling from international travels.
But the government said the report is a ‘fake news’ that should be ignored.
The Guardian/ Punch
