• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      EFCC Arraigns Ex-Convict, Other for Naira Abuse in Lagos

      EFCC Arrests 37 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ilorin

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria Customs Takes Anti-Money Laundering Fight to the Skies

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria Customs, ICPC and the Audit of Conscience

      Customs Diplomacy: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Ink Mutual Assistance Deal

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria, Belarus Forge Alliance to Combat Smuggling, Facilitate Trade

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

      Tinubu Hails Customs Boss Wale Adeniyi on Historic Election as WCO…

  • National
    • Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over…

      Troops helping the rescued civilians to the military truck

      In Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months…

      ASUU

      “No Pay, No Work”: ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide Strike

      Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

      From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as…

      Police Officer

      Police Bust Kidnapping, Cult Gangs, Arrest 8 Suspects, Recover Weapons

    • Government
      • ASUU

        “No Pay, No Work”: ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide Strike

        NPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting…

        At BRICS Summits, Tinubu Pushes for Equality in Global Finance, Health…

        Tinubu conference centre generates N700m in 3 weeks – Wike

        Soldiers

        Soldiers, forest guards to tackle insecurity in Kwara State

  • Security
    • Troops helping the rescued civilians to the military truck

      In Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months…

      Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

      From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as…

      NPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting…

      Police Officer

      Police Bust Kidnapping, Cult Gangs, Arrest 8 Suspects, Recover Weapons

      NDLEA Logo

      NDLEA Destroys Cannabis Farms, Seizes 345kg of Drugs, Arrests 37 Suspects…

  • Features
    • Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

      From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as…

      What Life Really Looks Like for Nigerians Battling Sickle Cell, By…

      Shittu Yunus Shittu

      Can Nigeria Lead Africa’s AI Revolution? By Shittu Yunus Shittu

      162 years of the Nigerian Army celebrations

      The First Shot and the Long March: Reflections on 162 Years…

      From SDP to ADA to ADC: Can the New Opposition Coalition…

  • State
    • Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over…

      NPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting…

      NDLEA Logo

      NDLEA Destroys Cannabis Farms, Seizes 345kg of Drugs, Arrests 37 Suspects…

      NAF Airstrikes, NAF Air, NAF jets

      Scores of Terrorists Eliminated as NAF Bombs Boko Haram Camps in…

      Troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA

      Troops Foil Coordinated Bandits Attacks, Rescue Kidnap Victims in Katsina

  • Event
    • Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo

      47 Years of Excellence: Honoring Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN

      NCoS inmates

      58 Inmates in Kano Sit for 2025 NECO Exams, Thanks to…

      Troops of the Nigerian Army giving a salute

      162nd Anniversary: Tinubu Salutes Nigerian Army, Hails Troops as Guardians of…

      President & Chairman of Governing Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku

      NIPR Lauds Nigerian PR Firms for Outstanding Performances at 2025 SABRE…

      SCN NGO signs partnership with PRNIGERIA

      SCN NGO Seals Partnership with PRNigeria to Amplify its Humanitarian Projects

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features A trial, A seized Passport, an Abridged Citizenship by Is’haq Modibbo Kawu
  • Features
  • Government
  • National

A trial, A seized Passport, an Abridged Citizenship by Is’haq Modibbo Kawu

By
Is'haq Modibbo Kawu
-
June 17, 2025
Nigerian International Passport

A trial, A seized Passport, an Abridged Citizenship by Is’haq Modibbo Kawu  

On Monday, June 16th, 2025, I drove the 58 kilometers from Abuja to Gwagwalada. My mission was to secure a new Nigerian passport. Those who follow African liberation struggles would have remembered June 16th, as the 49th anniversary of the Soweto Massacre of 1976.

An event that reverberated all over the world, when security forces of the then South African apartheid government gunned down hundreds of demonstrating school children in Soweto and other parts of the country. That massacre of Hector Peterson and his colleagues was going to become a major spark that lit a worldwide movement of solidarity, as well as the intesification of the struggle by the South African liberation movement. But, I have digressed. My mission in the Passport Office was to join the queue along with several other citizens to renew my passport, which expired in 2022!

But the story of the expiration of the passport, along with visas to several destinations around the world, was not because I forgot the expiry dates. No. The passport was seized from me six years ago, at the commencement of the trial that I was put through by the ICPC.

The last time that I travelled out of Nigeria was in October, 2018. I had gone to Rabat in Morocco. I had a couple of other trips lined up for official assignments and personal reasons, to Argentina, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Switzerland. These were scheduled between the end of 2018 and the middle of 2019.

By this period, the depth of animosity between my supervising minister and I was beginning to reach a head. I did not secure approval for the trips. By that time, we were already a year into the argy-bargy with the ICPC, and by April, 2019, we were arraigned in court. This was after an orchestrated media campaign had been launched earlier, set out to tarnish my image and to create the impression that I had stolen the sum of N2.5Billion from the coffers of the NBC.

Our arraignment in court was equally a rehearsed part of the elaborate charade. Television cameras from the press as well as the prosecuting agency were strategically positioned to record our every movement within and around the court house, just as much as the salacious reportage was central to the orchestrated process of demonization.

But the most important punishment even before the proper commencement of the court process was that by fiat, our passports were seized, along with the submission of other documents, as part of the bail process. Never mind the legal position that declared us innocent until proven guilty! There was no way that I was ever going to imagine that the passport would be under lock and key for the next six years.

One of the greatest pleasures of my life, as well as a source of very deep education about our very intriguing world, has been travel. I used to tell my friends that I carry the genes of movement and of travel as a Fullo. I have also made professional success from writing travelogues from different locations around the world.

Read Also:

  • Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over N29m Property Scam
  • In Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months in Captivity
  • “No Pay, No Work”: ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide Strike

I was travelling with the POLISSARIO FRONT in the liberated areas of Western Sahara; I travelled on the two sides of the Civil War in the Ivory Coast, going between Abidjan, Yamousoukro and Bouake in the North; I went to interview President Isaias Afewerki in Asmara, Eritrea; I attended the funeral of John Garang in Juba, in South Sudan.

I similarly travelled extensively in Iraq before the illegal American invasion in 2003, visiting Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf, Samara, and Babylon, before doing a road trip to the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth, Damascus, in Syria, passing through Aleppo.

There were all those remarkable journeys within the African continent, in the Americas, in Europe, and in Asia. Travel enriches our humanity and allows us to understand that there’s no one way of being human. With travel, we also learn to appreciate the fact that there is no superior or inferior human culture. We are different, yes, but equal in our human worth, without doubts!

When my passport was official seized, and we went through the tortuous trial that lasted six years, a very important part of what makes me a very happy, and equally cultured human being, was taken away from me. It was torture that was deeply felt because my citizenship was abridged, and a vital element of being able to connect with humanity was similarly locked away in the vaults of the Nigetian courts. Afterall, we were officially accused individuals undergoing a criminal trial. For six years, I was a witness to the world’s exciting developments only from my home without the possibility of travel.

I made an almost superhuman effort to block off thoughts of my inability to travel. In any case, I didn’t even have a livelihood for six years, having been suspended as DG of the NBC in 2020, and I therefore, didn’t earn the income to purchase a ticket or the foreign currency to do a trip. But a point came when I was requested to do a trip to Cuba, a country that I have always wanted to visit. Unfortunately, my passport, which had expired by the time of the invitation, was still in the possession of the court.

Finally, on February 13th, 2025, the court discharged and acquitted me and my colleagues. The three-point charge against me was dismissed by the Federal High Court. That verdict opened a new and potentially exciting vista. I can begin to repossess my life and earn back all my rights as a citizen of Nigeria and a man of the truly incredible world of the 21st century.

For six years, I was on trial accused of criminal conspiracy, and as a consequence, they seized my passport, thereby abridging my citizenship. When I entered the passport office in Gwagwalada, they snapped my picture, and I did the biometrics. It struck me that I was back on the road to full citizenship. It has been a very tough journey to arrive at this new point. But I feel that excitement of knowing that I can begin a new engagement with the world and humanity. I have collected a new passport, and the world should be ready for me. I will travel, I will enjoy the scenes of various destinations and I will write about them. So much for a six-year trial, a seized passport, and an abridged citizenship!

Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, PhD, FNGE, is a Broadcaster, Journalist, and a Political Scientist. He can be reached at [email protected].

Abuja, June 17th, 2025.

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • A seized Passport
  • South African apartheid government
  • Soweto Massacre of 1976
Previous articleMilitary Jets Bomb ISWAP Camp, Injure Leader ‘Abu Moussab Al-Barnawi’ in Sambisa
Next articleWith Less than N10bn Budget, Immigration can’t Protect our Borders – Tunji Ojo
Is'haq Modibbo Kawu
Is'haq Modibbo Kawu

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over N29m Property Scam

Troops helping the rescued civilians to the military truck

In Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months in Captivity

ASUU

“No Pay, No Work”: ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide Strike

Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as a Force for National and Continental Stability By Musa Ilallah

NPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting in Algeria

What Life Really Looks Like for Nigerians Battling Sickle Cell, By Hafsat Ibrahim

Police Officer

Police Bust Kidnapping, Cult Gangs, Arrest 8 Suspects, Recover Weapons

At BRICS Summits, Tinubu Pushes for Equality in Global Finance, Health Systems

Shittu Yunus Shittu

Can Nigeria Lead Africa’s AI Revolution? By Shittu Yunus Shittu

162 years of the Nigerian Army celebrations

The First Shot and the Long March: Reflections on 162 Years of the Nigerian Army By Olayemi Esan

Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo

47 Years of Excellence: Honoring Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN

NCoS inmates

58 Inmates in Kano Sit for 2025 NECO Exams, Thanks to State Government

Recent Posts

  • Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over N29m Property Scam
  • In Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months in Captivity
  • “No Pay, No Work”: ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide Strike
  • From Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as a Force for National and Continental Stability By Musa Ilallah
  • NPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting in Algeria
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Bar Everestus Ugwuowo Suspended from Legal Practice for Five Years Over N29m Property ScamIn Niger, 40 Women, Children Rescued from Boko Haram After Months in Captivity"No Pay, No Work": ASUU Orders Members to Commence Nationwide StrikeFrom Lake Chad to the Atlantic: The Nigerian Navy’s Rise as a Force for National and Continental Stability By Musa IlallahNPF Champions Regional Security Collaboration as IGP Attends 13th AFRIPOL Meeting in AlgeriaNigeria Customs Takes Anti-Money Laundering Fight to the SkiesWhat Life Really Looks Like for Nigerians Battling Sickle Cell, By Hafsat IbrahimPolice Bust Kidnapping, Cult Gangs, Arrest 8 Suspects, Recover WeaponsNDLEA Destroys Cannabis Farms, Seizes 345kg of Drugs, Arrests 37 Suspects in EdoGroup Condemns Amaechi’s Comment as Inciteful, DangerousScores of Terrorists Eliminated as NAF Bombs Boko Haram Camps in Mandara MountainsTroops Foil Coordinated Bandits Attacks, Rescue Kidnap Victims in KatsinaNAF Airstrikes Crush Terrorist Camps in Mandara Mountains, Kill Senior JAS FightersAt BRICS Summits, Tinubu Pushes for Equality in Global Finance, Health SystemsTroops Nab Notorious Militia, Recover Weapons in Plateau State
X whatsapp