Senator detained in S’Arabia on impersonation

A former Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Hassan Barata, is presently cooling his heels in a detention facility in faraway Saudi Arabia, for apparently lying to the authorities there.

Barata, who is believed to have travelled to the Kingdom a few weeks ago, may have overstayed when he was picked up.

According to sources, when he was arrested and quizzed, he claimed to be an employee of the Nigerian Embassy – a claim that was found to be untrue.

Read also: FG orders 21 ex-govs, 42 ex-ministers to return passports

Barata represented Adamawa South in the sixth Senate, having been elected in 2011 on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last February but returned to the PDP after losing his bid to pick the governorship ticket.

He was believed to be holding an official passport on the trip, even though the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) had called on him and others to return the diplomatic passports.

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