The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it is fully prepared to enforce law and order during the forthcoming general elections.
The NIS Controller in Kwara, Mr Aminu Shamsuddin, confirmed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Shamsuddin said that NIS had begun sensitising foreigners to the rules and regulations surrounding the elections, to avoid violation of laws and order.
“We have invited all the ECOWAS countries, that is, Africans settling in Ilorin and sensitised them to the do’s and don’ts of foreigners.
“Fortunately, most of them have been sensitised by their various embassies and are made to understand not to participate in anyway during the elections.
“We made them to understand that it is wrong for any foreigner to partake in Nigeria’s elections and also that borders will be closed before election,” he said.
The state controller gave the assurance that immigration officers would be deployed to all polling units and any foreigner found involved in political activities would be arrested.
“We have officers that are specially trained on how to recognise foreigners through many means, such as card details, vaccination mark and accent, so they cannot escape arrest.
“We will also collaborate with all the sister agencies like INEC, the Police, Army, Civil Defence and others, to monitor all the activities within the state,” he said.
Shamsuddin, however, appealed for more logistics to enable the service to have means of transportation for patrol in all the 16 Local Government Areas in the state, especially the rural areas and borders.
“We need patrol vehicles and motorcycles to be able to move round, especially in emergency call at border areas where Nigerians and foreigners move in and out of the country,” the controller said.
He, therefore, advised the people of Kwara to live in peace and harmony, urging them to participate in the forthcoming elections, by voting for candidates of their choice.