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The Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja on Monday ordered the speedy launch of the passport of a former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, which was seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS.
Justice Inyang Ekwo held that there was no authorized justification for the motion the NIS took towards the previous governor.
Odili, who piloted affairs of Rivers State from 1999 to 2007, had earlier approached the courtroom to problem the seizure of his passport by the NIS.
He informed the courtroom that his passport with numbers B50031305 was seized from him on June 20 by NIS officers for an undisclosed purpose, shortly after he landed on the Nnamdi Azikiwe Worldwide Airport in Abuja.
He added that the NIS had since refused to launch the passport to him, Vanguard reviews.ย
In an 8-paragraphed affidavit he deposed to, the previous governor mentioned he landed on the airport from the UK the place he had gone for his routine medical checkup.
He averred that upon his arrival, his travelling paperwork have been checked and given again to him, however whereas he waited for his baggage to be cleared, an Immigration official approached him and demanded his passport, claiming it was a routine verify.
Odili maintained that he complied and handed his paperwork over to the official who went away with them and didnโt return them.
He then pleaded with the courtroom to intervene within the matter, stressing that heโs a law-abiding senior citizen of Nigeria.
He additionally prayed the courtroom to compel the 2 Respondents within the matter to launch the passport to him.ย
Odili additionally sought an order of perpetual injunction stopping the Respondents from additional harassing, embarrassing, intimidating or interfering along with his basic proper to freedom of motion.
The previous governor equally demanded a written apology from the Respondents for the embarrassment brought about him by the Immigration.
The respondents within the matter have been recognized because the NIS and its Comptroller Normal.
The NIS had in processes it filed earlier than the courtroom, maintained that its motion was primarily based on a directive from the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), which it mentioned had positioned the erstwhile governor on its watch checklist.
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