Afenifere, others decry FG plans to register illegal migrants

The Yoruba socio-cultural group and other stakeholders in the country have described the move by the Federal government to electronically register illegal migrants in the country as a backdoor to unleash an “army of occupation” on Nigerians.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had last week disclosed that illegal migrants already in the country should submit themselves to the Nigerian Immigration Service for the purpose of registration within a stipulated six-month amnesty.

Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, the president explained: “The registration will be carried out without any payment or penalties. I’m enjoining all migrants staying in Nigeria whether regularly or otherwise, to take advantage of the amnesty window to register with the NIS.”

Reacting to the development, Yinka Odumakin, the spokesman of Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, said: “The registration of migrants will not force the government to enforce the law against criminal herdsmen/terrorists, which the government is not doing at the moment.

The exercise cannot make the government to stop acting as the media office of Miyetti Allah. There is no level of registration that will make Nigeria a safe place if the government is not run to protect all citizens as against special interests.”

Also reacting, Isuwa Dogo, the publicity secretary of the Middle Belt Forum, said the e-registration could compound sadness in the country by bolstering the alleged criminal activities of some illegal immigrants.

Citing last week’s murder of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Afenifere chieftain, Pa Rueben Fasoranti, allegedly by herdsmen, Dogo warned: “If anybody thinks he or she is defending any particular ethnic group in the face of serious security challenges we are going through, the north would be the first region the illegal immigrants would wipe off before any damage is done to the southern part.”

In another reaction, Chief Ralph Nwosu, the national chairman of African Democratic Congress, noted: “We do not expect the ruling party and Buhari to use presidential fiat to grant illegal immigrants citizenship of this country just because of their selfish, parochial and political agenda.

This programme is definitely going to have dire consequences in the future. Nigeria is still struggling to address the issue of its diversity, yet someone is talking of adding more illegal immigrants? I doubt if it will be of any advantage to us.”

But a legal luminary and a former national secretary of the Labour Party, Kayode Ajulo, said he has no issues with the idea; his grouse is how, in the first place, immigration officers allowed illegal immigrants to penetrate Nigeria unchecked through northern borders.

“It appears there is a type of conspiracy against Nigeria when it comes to the influx of illegal immigrants. For instance, go to most of the borders in the southern parts of Nigeria, they are properly manned by customs and immigration officers,” he said.

Also, a chieftain of the ruling party, who did not want to be named, said: “It is an internal security mechanism, to capture the identity of illegal immigrants. There is nothing special about it.”