A combo of the passport, Kemi Nanna Nandap and Rebecca Omokamo Godwin-Isaac Photo: Inshot
By Abdullahi Abubakar
A monumental scandal that revolves around the controversial issuance of a second Nigerian passport to embattled Abuja-based real estate developer and the CEO of Homadil Realty Limited, Rebecca Omokamo Godwin-Isaac, also known as Hajia Bilkisu Ishaku Aliyu, amid allegations of a brazen breach of biometric and passport security system has rocked the Nigeria Immigration Services
So intense is the development that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has ordered a forensic investigation to unravel how the second passport was issued.
The minister’s directive followed a SaharaReporters investigation exposing how Omokamo reportedly obtained a fresh passport despite having deposited her original passport with the Federal High Court in Abuja as part of her bail conditions.
Recall that SaharaReporters had reported on June 17, 2026, that Omokamo, who is facing criminal proceedings over alleged fraud and forgery of title documents relating to property in Guzape, Abuja, had obtained a second passport numbered B51450551, printed on February 15, 2025. Her original passport, B00485650, was reportedly still in the custody of the court.
The development has triggered a high-level investigation because of allegations that the second passport was not obtained through the normal biometric enrolment process and may have been facilitated by insiders believe to be top senior officers within the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
‘Ghost Passport’ Probe Targets Immigration Insiders
The ministerial panel, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani, has been tasked with unravelling the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the disputed passport and identifying the officials who allegedly gave the order and processed the passport without recourse to the standard operation procedure of passport enrollments.
Gathered that Ajani recently met with a delegation of lawyers in her conference room, where the legal team presented what it described as a detailed paper trail pointing to disturbing weaknesses in Nigeria’s passport enrolment and identity-profiling architecture.
The panel is expected to determine who authorised the issuance of the passport, who processed it, how it entered the NIS database and whether officials deliberately circumvented mandatory biometric safeguards.
At the centre of the investigation is an allegation that Omokamo did not physically appear at an enrolment centre to have her biometrics captured for the second passport.
Forensic records cited by sources familiar with the matter allegedly indicate that her photograph and signature were digitally superimposed onto the official data page associated with the passport.
If confirmed, such a process would represent a potentially grave compromise of Nigeria’s passport security architecture, particularly because the biometric system is designed to prevent identity duplication, impersonation and the creation of parallel identities.
EFCC Questions Immigration Official
The controversy has also attracted the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has reportedly demanded information from the NIS over the circumstances surrounding the disputed passport.
SaharaReporters gathered that the anti-graft agency has been examining the Immigration Service’s database logs to establish who accessed, altered or authorised records connected to the passport.
A high-ranking NIS delegation was recently interviewed by EFCC operatives as investigators sought to trace possible insider involvement through the Service’s digital records. The development followed months of what sources described as foot-dragging by the Immigration Service in setting up an administrative panel of enquiry on the matter despite an infallible evidence of a serious security breach in the process.
According to sources, the NIS initially took several months to respond to inquiries from the EFCC before some senior officials eventually claimed that officers responsible for the infractions had been sanctioned.
However, sources alleged that the disciplinary action may have targeted junior officers who were merely carrying out instructions issued from higher levels of the Service.
Two Immigration Officers Face Disciplinary Action
SaharaReporters gathered that two Immigration officers are currently being investigated over the passport scandal. Sources, however, alleged that the suspended officers could be used as sacrificial lambs and scapegoats despite claims that they acted on instructions from senior officials.
The ministerial panel is expected to demand the identities of all officers involved in the passport’s processing and issuance, including those who allegedly authorised any alteration of biometric or identity records.
The allegations have not been independently established, and the affected officers have not publicly responded.
NIS Under Pressure To Explain
The scandal has placed the NIS under mounting pressure to explain how a person whose passport had allegedly been surrendered to a court could obtain another Nigerian passport.
The Service has yet to publicly provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances surrounding passport B51450551 or disclose the findings of any internal investigation.
When previously questioned by journalists, an Immigration spokesperson reportedly insisted that the Service followed due process and did not violate any extant immigration law in issuing the passport.
But lawyers and civil society groups have continued to demand an independent investigation, arguing that any compromise of the country’s passport database should be treated as a national-security issue.
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, has been among those calling for the matter to be thoroughly investigated.
Section 59 Raises Fresh Legal Questions
The controversy has also raised questions under Section 59 of the Immigration Act 2015, which criminalises certain forms of fraudulent procurement or attempted procurement of Nigerian passports, including obtaining a passport through false representation or while another valid travel document is lawfully withheld
The lawyers representing the nominal complainant are now seeking to compel the Immigration Service to take action.
Lawyers Give Immigration 30 Days
In the latest development, lawyers to the nominal complainant have issued a 30-day pre-action notice to the NIS over its handling of the disputed passport.
Documents obtained by SaharaReporters show that counsel to the nominal complainant, Olujinmi & Akeredolu Legal, served the notice on September 8, 2026, at the Passport Headquarters of the Office of the Comptroller-General of Immigration in Abuja.
Stamped copies were also delivered to the Minister of Interior, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
The lawyers are demanding that the NIS formally confirm the status of passport B51450551, including whether it has been seized, cancelled or revoked in the central database.
They are also demanding that the Service commence appropriate proceedings under Section 59 of the Immigration Act over the alleged fraudulent procurement of the passport.
The legal team further wants the NIS to confirm whether a Stop Order or Watchlist Flag has been placed against Omokamo at Nigerian ports of entry, including any biometric variations allegedly linked to her identity.
‘Expose Those Who Compromised Database’
The lawyers are also demanding that the NIS transmit the findings of its database audit concerning the alleged compromise of immigration records on February 15, 2025, to the EFCC and the Federal Ministry of Justice for possible criminal prosecution.
The notice warned that failure to comply with the demands within 30 days would trigger legal action at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The proposed suit would seek an Order of Mandamus under Order 34 of the Federal High Court Rules, compelling the Comptroller-General of Immigration to perform what the complainants contend are her statutory duties
The lawyers also intend to seek civil damages over alleged institutional negligence and bad faith, as well as what they described as serious risks to Nigeria’s national security and identity-management architecture.
Questions NIS Must Answer
At the heart of the scandal are questions the Immigration Service has so far failed to publicly answer, including ho authorised the issuance of passport B51450551, how was it processed without the alleged physical biometric capture, who accessed or altered the relevant NIS database records, why was a second passport issued while the original passport was reportedly in court custody and were senior Immigration officials involved in authorising the process?
And perhaps most importantly, if Nigeria’s biometric passport system can allegedly be bypassed for one individual, how many other identities or passports could potentially have been compromised?
