The Senator representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye, has been released from detention by operatives of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, disclosing that he retrieved his international passport after same was “snatched” by the NIS personnel.
The Nigerian Immigration Service had disclosed that Melaye was arrested on Monday morning by its officials “based on instructions”.
Shedding light into his arrest and detention at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja en route Morocco, the lawmaker had earlier told The Punch,
“My self and the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and others were to be on an official trip to Morocco but while some have gone through the Lagos airport today, others are to depart tomorrow.
“I got to this airport I was checked in and was already in the lounge waiting for departure. Immigration officers invited me that there is a directive from the police that I can’t travel; that I am on their watch list. And I said it was not true, that the INTERPOL said they had not issued an alert on me. I opened INTERPOL’s website and showed them the denial. But they insisted that it was based on the directive from the police.
“I was disembarked and they asked me to go to their office (at the airport). They snatched my passport but I snatched my thing back from them. I got it back! I’m still here with them. They circled me and said they were waiting for further instructions from the police.”
