My about-to-expire Nigerian passport - Kaduna experience

So I decided to renew my about-to-expire Nigerian passport in Kaduna, believing that the NIS passport office there would be less crowded and thus more efficient than the one in Abuja. I had previously taken advantage of visits to Nigeria to renew my passport, so I expected this to be routine. Boy, was I mistaken.

The first day was smooth. The NIS folks ushered me in, gave me a spot to park, and one of them accompanied me to the right office where I submitted my old passport, paid the N24,000 fee they demanded (I simply obliged as I didn't know the prevailing official rate), and supplied the information they requested. They did not even give me a receipt but I didn't want to be fussy or tick them off.

The NIS officer who accompanied me then asked me to expect his call later in the day when they would be ready for me to come back for the biometric capture. Sure enough he called around 3:30 pm and I immediately headed back to the passport office and got my biometric data taken after a brief wait.

Encounter with DSS @ MM Intl Airport - Tyranny has returned to Nigeria

It was Friday, 15th day of April 2016. I arrived at the airport for a scheduled flight back to the U.S., I checked in my luggage and went through immigration to the boarding area. Immediately as I walked away from the immigration scanning area two plain clothed men walked to me; they brought out a photograph of me printed, I guessed, printed from my blog.

They asked, "are you Madukar Orji? I said yes. They identified themselves as State Security officers.

I expected this on my arrival, not on departure. They brought out about three articles written by me from my blog. One of then, with chaotic intimidating voice said, “it is Nigerians like you
abroad that write rubbish about the country.

Calmly I replied, “I don’t know what many write, but I do not write rubbish, I write nothing but truth.

I went further to exemplified my points in relation to the articles they had. They stood still for seconds without response. At this point they asked for my passport and boarding pass.

They said to me, “it seems your journey has come to an end here.” I said nothing, but gently smiled. In an unintended chorus both men said, “so you are an American citizen?