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Founding Chairman of Daar Communications Plc. High Chief Raymond Alegho Dokpesi has raised alarm over fresh attempts by the Federal government to seize his international passport and prevent him from legally accessing medical treatment abroad.
Dokpesi was last Friday March 22 detained for about 55 minutes by immigration officers attached to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on his return from a medical treatment in Dubai.
Narrating the ugly experience on Wednesday to the Press at the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Headquarters Abuja, Dokpesi said he was invited by the Service for further interrogation alleging that there was a clear instruction to NIS officers to seize his international passport and prevent him from undertaking medical vacation legally under the guise of Order 6.
He said, “I just returned from a medical trip overseas last Friday, March 22nd 2019 when I was arrested for 50 -55 minutes at the Airport. I was told that they have instructions from above to arrest me on my return but after a few phone calls, the immigration officer at the Airport told me that he has instructions from above that I can leave and he gave me back my passport and told me that I should go and that they will reach me subsequently.”
Dokpesi said that government is making frantic efforts to arm twist him into submitting his travel document which he has already returned to the Federal High Court Abuja that had earlier released it.
He said, “On Monday, I received new information and in line with the normal process, I returned my passport to the federal high court since I travelled under a judicial approval or permission. So I returned my passport that I have gone and came back and gave notice that I might have to go for a medical check-up so that they will ensure that the operation was successful and that all the organs and everything are properly healed.
“So when I got the letter yesterday 26th, I replied that same yesterday 26th notifying them that I have returned the passport to the federal high court and that it has been duly acknowledged and added all the necessary information and so on. But the officers who interrogated me said that they had expected me to go back to the federal high court and obtain the passport with their letter of invitation and I told them that I totally defer from that line of thought.
“I have returned it, I got the passport from the federal high court, I have returned the passport to the federal high court. If you the immigration service with the instruction from above require my passport then write directly to the federal high court and request for the passport. If you like, you can copy me for me to be able to go there and say, look I am supposed to be a courier, has the Court approved it and I will return it clearly, but that did not happen and that made us have altercations and tempers went very high.
“But I stood my ground and said, well I am a Nigerian citizen, I have travelled out for my medical treatment, I am back to the country and I voluntarily came back and has handed over my passport to the appropriate authority. They were telling me that passport was a property of the federal government and federal government has a right to withdraw it at any time.
“I am also a citizen of the federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a judicial process, there is a rule of law, why should we not go through the judicial process and be able to define what is required.”
Dokpesi expressed optimism that his passport could have been impounded had he honoured the invitation with the document.
“Definitely if I had brought my passport today, they would have impounded it, that is what it is. There are no two ways about it but the passport is with the Court. But even if they decide to do so, like I said the passport is a property of the federal republic of Nigeria, so they can request for it” he narrated.
On his next line of action, Dokpesi replied, “Honestly there is nothing I can do, I am already in court, we have challenged Order 6 and all the Orders that are there, I am a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it is through my own sweat that I went for treatment.”
Meanwhile the Immigration Service says that Dokpesi’s invitation is nothing extraordinary but a routine official duty of the service details of which will not be made public until investigation is concluded.
The Public Relations Officer of NIS Assistant Comptroller James Abraham Sunday while speaking with The AUTHORITY described Dokpesi as a high profile Nigerian.
He said, “Mr. Dokpesi is a high-profile individual so until we are able to finish the issues we are looking at, we can’t disclose them.
“Immigration is just doing its official assignment and when it is due for the public to know the outcome, they will know.
“All Nigerians are treated the same way, with high Standards particularly when it is related with the operation of the Immigration service. We don’t undermine Human Rights and we don’t undermine the standard of practice. Every person that is treated by the NIS is treated with the best practice.”
There are indications that Dokpesi’s recent interrogation is connected with Executive Order 6 of 2018 (EO6) signed by President, Muhammadu Buhari on 5th July 2018, which is a part of the anti-graft law of the Federal Government to “restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from dissipation and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes.”
source: authorityngr.com/2019/03/28/fg-planning-to-impound-my-passport-dokpesi-raises-alarm/