By our reporter| A member of the femnist coalition, one of the promoters of the #EndSARS protest, Modupe Odele, says the Nigerian Immigration Service stopped her from travelling out of the country to celebrate her birthday in the Maldives last Sunday.
The Feminist Coalition which raised about N147 million for the protests also offered legal services to persons who were arrested during the demonstrations.
Odele who narrated how she was stopped at the airport while on her way to the Maldives to celebrate her birthday in a news letter, said the officer who accosted her at the air port, said the action was ordered “from above”.
The activist claimed she saw a “wanted poster” of herself on the officer’s computer, adding that she was detained and her passport seized.
She said, “For my birthday, I had planned a trip to the Maldives. It was really for a break as the events of the last three weeks have exhausted my mind and body in a way I have never been exhausted in my life.”
“I went to the airport, passed through immigration, and while I was putting my bags through the body and baggage scanner, the immigration officer who had previously cleared me, called me back. He told me he had orders from above to detain me.
“Okay, at this point I’m like excuse me, my flight is in an hour. On what grounds are you detaining me?” He didn’t respond. Instead, he goes to his computer where he typed in my name and something that looked like a ‘wanted poster’ popped up on the portal.
“He blocked my view so I couldn’t see most of it but I saw some of it. And it read something like – ‘This person is under investigation by XYZ Intelligence Agency. If seen, they should be apprehended on sight.
“They held me for a little over an hour, seized my passport and I missed my flight. My passport is still seized up until this very moment and I have still not been made aware of what I am under investigation for.”
In an update on Tuesday, Oladele in a post on her verified Twitter handle, said she is safe and that she has been invited back with her lawyers.
She tweeted, “Hello everyone. Thank you so much. I’m fine and I’m safe. We haven’t confirmed yet why I was stopped on Sunday or by whom. But I’ve been invited back in with my lawyers today. I’ll update when I have more information but please don’t spread false news. That is dangerous.”
Leave a Reply