Modupe Odele, a promoter of the #EndSARS protests has been barred from travelling by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
During the protests, she had taken an active role by offering her legal services probono to those who had been unjustly arrested.
She had also used her Twitter handle @Mochievous to mobilise her over 200,000 followers.
On Monday, however, she had written that she was going to the Maldives to celebrate her birthday when she was stopped by immigration officers.
Odele reports that she was detained and her passport was seized.
“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 confirms that she has identified the security agency that put her on the watch list and that she would visit the Agency on Tuesday.
“Since the #EndSARS peaceful protests started in Nigeria about three weeks ago, I and some super courageous women have been providing support to Nigerians as they came out to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights.
“I was specifically in charge of legal aid and so co-led www.endsarslegalaid.co where we succeeded in helping over 80 peaceful protesters who were arrested get released. It was back-breaking and emotionally tasking work but the joy that the family expressed when being reunited with loved ones made it all worth it.
“I’m not a full-time activist or human rights attorney. I am a corporate lawyer at the moment so dealing with police stations isn’t my area of expertise. I did what needed to be done in the face of gross injustice and had the support of over 800 wonderful volunteer lawyers,” she wrote.
Odele stated that she had begun providing pro bono lawyers to victims of police brutality who wish to file petitions before the Judicial Panels set up by states across the country to investigate alleged incidences of police brutality.
However, NIS Spokesman, Sunday James, said he could not confirm the development yet and asked for more time.
