The Nigeria Immigration Service announced it has launched an investigation after a viral video showed a woman ripping up her husband’s passport at the Murtala Mohammed airport in the commercial capital of Lagos.
Per BBC, the woman, identified as Favour Igiebor, has since been summoned for questioning. In the video, the remnants of the destroyed passport are seen on the floor, and Igiebor is heard shouting at her husband.
“I tore it,” Igiebor is heard saying in the video. The video also shows other people trying to comfort Igiebor’s husband and urging him to take heart.
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Igiebor as well as her husband and children had landed in Nigeria from Europe when she destroyed the passport. The incident was also witnessed by several travelers, and one of them said the couple had been going back and forth during the flight. An investigation into the incident has since been launched.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has launched formal investigation, following the circulation of a video on social media, showing a female traveler [sic] destroying a Nigerian Standard Passport at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos,” the NIS said in a statement. “The individual involved has been identified as Mrs. Favour Igiebor.”
The NIS also stated it was criminal to damage the West African nation’s passport, and individuals found guilty of committing such acts could be sentenced to up to one year in prison.
The video went viral on social media, and Igiebor later shared a video to address the incident, BBC reported. “Look at my eyes – I do cry a lot. Many people commenting on social media don’t understand what I am going through,” she said in the video.
“You have to ask what happened – don’t just look at the action alone. I have my reasons. I have gone through a lot of family issues. I cannot be suffering. I suffered with him.”
She said she pondered on destroying the passport when they were in Europe, but she later changed her mind because that would have led to her husband having issues. Igiebor could be the first person to stand trial for destroying the Nigerian passport if authorities decide to charge her.
This recent investigation comes in the wake of Nigerian authorities taking a hard stance on acts deemed to be desecrating to the country’s symbols. As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, some celebrities in the West African nation were arrested and charged for “spraying” – a common practice which involves people throwing money in the air to show gratitude or honor someone. People are usually seen doing that at weddings, parties, and other social events in the West African nation.
But the notes landing on the ground after being thrown in the air is technically deemed an offense as people end up walking on them, BBC reported. In April, popular Nigerian female transgender celebrity Bobrisky was sentenced to six months in jail after she entered a guilty plea to abusing the West African nation’s banknotes.
