41 Senior Officers Redeployed

The Comptroller-General of Immigration, Isah Idris, has approved the immediate reposting of 41 senior officers, mostly stationed in border states, ahead of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The redeployment affects 11 Assistant Comptrollers General in charge of various zones and 30 Comptrollers posted to new states. The states affected are mainly those that border Nigeria with neighboring countries, including Yobe, Adamawa, Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Oyo, Lagos (Seme Border), and Cross River states.

Other states getting new Comptrollers include Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau, Bauchi, FCT, Nassarawa, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers (Marine Command), Anambra, and Enugu, among others.

According to the NIS Public Relations Officer, Tony Akuneme, “all the deployments are with immediate effect and the CGIS placed a very high premium on the critical role of his personnel in the success of the forthcoming general elections.”

The redeployment comes after the Service seized 6,216 permanent voter and national identity cards from migrants in 21 border states nationwide.

The immigration chief, Idris, said that 2,393 voter cards and 3,823 National Identity cards were seized from persons believed to be in unlawful possession of the documents.

The immigrants, most of whom hail from West African states, have been deported to their various homelands, according to the ECOWAS Protocol on freedom of movement. Idris warned that immigrants caught trying to vote will face firm sanctions.