A security expert, Hon. Dipo Okeyomi, has raised the alarm over the influx of immigrants of Chadian and Nigerien nationalities into Lagos, warning that many of them are in Nigeria on espionage mission for international terrorist group, ISIS and Boko Haram insurgents.
Okeyomi, in an interview with our correspondent, said he was saddened that the Nigerian security services, especially the Nigerian Immigration Service, were not on top of their beat by rounding up and investigating these immigrants.
He said, “The truth is that, these immigrants from Chad and Niger Republic are all over Lagos now, driving tricycles and doing other menial jobs. Nobody seems to bother about them as they appear not to pose any threat to anybody.
“But I have taken time to observe them intently, and I am not comfortable with their large number and sense of coordination among themselves. You can hardly find them landing in any trouble or creating one problem at one occasion or the other, and this is not normal.
“I believe they are around on a spy mission for some terrorist groups, which may include the dreaded Boko Haram and ISIS and that is why our security agencies, especially the Immigration Service and the Department of State Service should rise to the occasion; round them up and investigate their missions in Nigeria.”
Okeyomi also lamented that it was disgusting for the Nigerian society to show sympathy towards such immigrants on the grounds that they are poor folks, noting that the world is increasingly becoming dangerous, through the activities of terrorists and other nihilistic elements.
“Take the western countries for instance; the whole world cried in condemnation of what we take as their inhuman treatment of illegal emigrants trying to scale through their border walls. But such countries know better by repelling the intruders. They do not want strange characters who will pose social problems or serve as agents for terrorist groups,” he stressed.
Okeyomi recalled that he raised a similar alarm last year that some petroleum tanker vehicles were being used to smuggle arms into the country, “and a few months after, a petroleum tanker loaded with fire-arms was arrested at one of our northern borders.”
