Immigration places sponsors of nationwide protest on watch list

The Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, says the sponsors of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in the diaspora are on watch list, noting that they will be arrested when entering the country.

Nandap made this known at a combined press conference by the heads of security agencies and Service Chiefs convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.

She said: “We have identified some diaspora sponsors; they are on our watch list.

“Any attempt they make to come into the country, we will be notified and they will be picked up and handed to appropriate authority.”

The immigration boss said the NIS had, in response to the protest, deployed more officers to borders both land and airports to ensure effective manning of the entry ports.

IGP: Foreign mercenaries involved in planned protest

Nandap stated that the NIS had also stepped up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, added that the police had uncovered some sponsors but declined to give further information on them.

Egbetokun said some accounts of the individuals had been blocked, adding: “Many of them reside abroad.”

Also speaking, the Director General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, who was represented by the DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said the service was monitoring those concerned.

He added that the secret police was also working with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to identify more persons behind the funding of the protest.

The defence chief led the service chiefs and heads of all the security, intelligence, and paramilitary agencies to brief newsmen on the nationwide protest.

The briefing came a day after President Bola Tinubu met with the security chiefs on the security situation following the violence that broke out during the protest across the country.

The Star