How my daughter was questioned at Abuja airport because of my name – Moghalu

Prominent economist and former presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, has shared a remarkable experience his daughter faced at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, over what he described as an unusual and intrusive inquiry by immigration officials.

In a post on X Sunday, Moghalu recounted that his daughter, who lives abroad, was traveling out of Nigeria when the incident occurred. At the immigration checkpoint, officials reportedly looked at her passport and, upon seeing her surname, asked if she was his daughter.

Feeling that her privacy had been invaded, she replied, “No, this is a common name in the Southeast.” The officials, Moghalu said, disagreed, insisting that the name was not common and suggesting that they believed she was indeed his daughter. They allegedly requested that she show them a photograph of him. She refused.

Moghalu shared his daughter’s immediate reaction: “‘Daddy,’ she texted me, ‘Can you believe the immigration people asked me to show them a picture of you? Of course I didn’t. What kind of madness is this!’”

He added that he called her afterward, and they shared a laugh over the incident. “If you were a proper Nigerian, my dear daughter,” he joked, “you might have even announced your father’s name even when you were not asked. You would probably have received courtesies that would shorten your process at the counter.”

However, Kingsley Moghalu commended his daughter for standing her ground, stressing that asking for a photograph of her father was an invasion of privacy, even if it was likely well-intentioned.

He reflected on the broader implications of name recognition in Nigeria, noting the goodwill and respect he often receives across the country. “I receive tremendous goodwill wherever I go in this country, and relatives consistently report the same whenever they are asked whether they are related to me,” he wrote. “But my daughter, while of course proud of her father, is a stickler for propriety! She was well brought up!”