Ex-Rivers Gov, Peter Odili floors Immigration in court over passport seizure

Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, to immediately release the international passport of former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, which was unlawfully seized from him in July this year.

The judge held that the action of Immigration is not only unlawful but illegal, unconstitutional and utra vires.

Justice Ekwo, in a judgment of the suit filed by Odili to challenge the seizure of his passport, upheld the submission that the Immigration and its Comptroller General lacked the constitutional powers to do what they did.

The reason that Odili was on the watch list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrived to justify the passport seizure was rejected by the court on the ground that such use of power is not known to any law in the country.