A Nigerian lawyer and major mobiliser of the #EndSARS movement, Modupe Odele, was on Sunday prevented from traveling abroad by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
Mrs Odele, who mobilised her over 220,000 followers on Twitter during the protests, said via her handle @Mochievous on Monday that immigration officers stopped her from flying to the Maldives to celebrate her birthday.
She also explained how the situation played out in a newsletter.
“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.”
She said her passport was seized by the officers and efforts to retrieve it have been abortive.
“Hello people, I went to retrieve my passport today (Tuesday) but was told this: “We cannot release your passport because you are still under investigation”. As of now, I’m not aware of any charges against me or what I am under investigation for”, she wrote last night.
“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.”
She said her passport was seized by the officers and efforts to retrieve it have been abortive.
“Hello people, I went to retrieve my passport today (Tuesday) but was told this: “We cannot release your passport because you are still under investigation”. As of now, I’m not aware of any charges against me or what I am under investigation for”, she wrote last night.
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