By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Barely a month to the general elections in Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service has taken into custody no fewer than 516 illegal immigrants from Niger Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Togo and Senegal found in possession of the country’s Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) which permits citizens and lawful immigrants to participate in elections.
The arrest was effected in Kaduna State, North West Nigeria by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) with some of those arrested having national identity cards.
The Comptroller in charge of the state, Liman Sani Kila, while parading the illegal immigrants at the command’s headquarters said they were undergoing profiling and would be deported.
Kila explained that in the last year’s mop up operations, the command retrieved 1,000 PVCs from illegal immigrants arrested within Kaduna Zone.
This is coming ahead of the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections in which campaigns have been intensified.
The state Governorship and Assembly election is expected to hold two weeks later on March 11, 2023.