NATIONAL: Immigration denies caterer passport renewal over #EndSARS protest

A CATERER, Mosopefoluwa Odeseye, has accused the Federal Government of refusing to issue a passport to her.

Odeseye was said to be one of the prominent #EndSARS campaigners who provided food to protesters and helped in sourcing funds for a wounded protester.

Odeseye, whose account has been frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria, said she was denied a passport by the Nigeria Immigration Service on Wednesday.

Odeseye said in a tweet that she had gone to renew her passport at the Alausa Passport Office, Lagos, but was informed that she had been blacklisted and was asked to proceed to Abuja.

She tweeted, “First, it was Central Bank locking up all my bank accounts, now it is Nigerian immigration not issuing my passport at Alausa! To what end, Nigeria? To what end? I applied for a re-issue at Alausa, captured some days ago and asked to come pick today then I’m told that I have been blacklisted?”

According to Punch newspaper, a top immigration officer confirmed the development, saying, “We have asked her to see the Assistant Comptroller General in charge of passports at the head office in Abuja. We are only acting on instruction,” she said.

The CBN had in October asked banks to freeze accounts of some persons involved in controlling #EndSARS funds.

The bank had told a Federal High Court that the affected people are under investigation for terrorism, an allegation they have all denied.

The #EndSARS protests, which rocked some parts of the country in October, were largely peaceful, but became violent when  it was hijacked by hoodlums following the controversial Lekki shootings.