A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has ordered the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) to release the international passport of former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, to him
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order on Monday following a fundamental rights enforcement suit by filed by Odili to challenge the confiscation of his international traveling documents by Immigration officials.
A medical doctor by profession, Odili served as Rivers state deputy governor between 1992 and 1993, and later held office as substantive governor between 1999 and 2007.
The former governor had claimed before the court that his international passport with numbers B50031305 was seized from him on June 20, 2021 by operatives of the Immigration Service and had since been withheld.
In an 8-paragraphed affidavit he personally deposed to, the former governor, said upon his arrival at the airport from the United Kingdom where he had gone for his routine medical checkup, his traveling documents were checked and given back to him, but while he waited for his luggage to be cleared, an Immigration official approached him and demanded for the passport on claim of routing check.
Odili told the court that he complied and handed his documents over to the official who went away with and failed to return it back.
Stressing that he is a law abiding senior citizen of Nigeria that did not do anything to warrant the seizure of his passport, Odili, prayed the court to intervene in the matter.
He prayed the court to compel the two Respondents in the matter (the NIS and its Comptroller General) to release the passport to him, as well as to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining them from further harassing, embarrassing, intimidating or interfering with his fundamental right to freedom of movement.
He equally prayed the court to compel the Respondents to tender written apology to him for the embarrassment caused him by the Immigration.
The NIS had argued that its action was based on a directive from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which it said had placed the erstwhile governor on its watchlist.
Ruling on the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the former governor, Justice Ekwo stated that there was no legal justification for the action the NIS took against the Dr. Peter Odili and ordered immediate release of the seized passport.
