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Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was a mound of angst on Thursday, March 27 at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on the implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025. He was visibly angry and he let it out as he narrated a horrifying story of how a Chinese ordered the shooting of a Nigeria Immigration officer in uniform.
The incident did not happen in Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou or in any of the cities of China. It happened in Niger state, north central Nigeria. In our own backyard. A foreigner commanded a Nigerian security personnel to shoot another Nigerian, a para-military officer, and boom, he was shot. A Nigerian against a Nigerian at the behest of a foreigner whose immigration status I cannot determine. Abomination!
Here is the gist. A Chinese man ordered a security official at his disposal (for whatever reason) to shoot a personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), who was on official assignment on the premises of a company owned by the Chinese. The shooting was not an accidental discharge. The Immigration officer was not a criminal, an armed robber, or a bandit trying to harm or kill the Chinese. He was on duty, officially so assigned by his office, and by extension, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Let’s hear from the minister: “One issue I must mention is, some foreign companies that refuse, intimidate the Immigration Service officers from doing their responsibility of supervision. That will no longer happen.
“I will not go to any country, open a company and say Immigration Service cannot come in. No, I won’t do that. An incident happened, and I am taking that very personally. I don’t want to mention the company here, where the owner ordered a security officer to shoot one of our Immigration personnel, and he did it. That happened like a couple of weeks ago in Niger State. And we are going to take it up with the Chinese Embassy. That is a Chinese company. I won’t go to China and as a Nigerian, open a company and tell my security to shoot a government official in uniform. It is never done anywhere in the world. That alone is an attack on Nigeria, and it will never happen again.
“These officers put their lives on the line. These officers serve this country with their all, and you will not come from anywhere and ask them to shoot them in their fatherland. It will no longer happen. We will take it up with you. It will no longer happen. I can’t imagine it. For a father to leave his children, go in defence of Nigeria, to do his legitimate responsibility, go to a company to say, I need to see your expatriates. Let us see your list. Just to ask questions, and the next thing you say, they should lock the gate… And the next thing you say, ‘If you don’t do it, I’ll say they should shoot you,’ and the next thing was that the immigration officer was shot. That is a diplomatic issue. We will handle it.
“It will not happen again. So, we are going to be very hard. We will not stop your business. We will not overburden your business. But don’t treat us like inferiors in our own land. No, please.
“And we are going to be very tough on this. I’m not just talking with passion. On this topic, I am talking with a lot of anger because that officer who was shot is a Nigerian. That man that was shot, not by a terrorist, is a father. He is a son to somebody. He is a husband to somebody. That cannot happen anywhere in the world. We will not tolerate it. Please, no agent, no company is above the law. We are all within the law.”
Based on this incident, the minister said the Nigerian government is automating its immigration lists of white, grey and black. He warned that any foreigner who poses a threat to national security would be swiftly blacklisted.
My take: Nigeria does not need such demeaning treatment of its citizen in his own country by a foreigner to automate its immigration list. This is the 21st century. A tech-driven century. Tech should be the rotor of our operations in the military, para-military, civil service and in every sector. How did the Chinese acquire the service of a Nigerian security officer, even one that is so dumb he can shoot a compatriot? Was the trigger-happy security personnel officially assigned to the Chinese or his company? By who and at what cost? Is the power-drunk Chinese and his ‘expatriates’ legally in Nigeria? Does his business make tax returns to the government of Nigeria? I join the minister in his righteous anger and hereby demand that this matter be fully and thoroughly investigated. Attempted murder is a crime in Nigeria. And that officer that shot his fellow countryman at the behest of an immigrant (legal or illegal) deserves a place in the hall of infamy. He should be shooed out of service and prosecuted alongside his Chinese master.
The Chinese have flocked into Nigeria in recent years, with some of them undocumented while some are engaging in illegal activities and crimes including illegal mining and cybercrime. The minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Dele Alake, has been outstanding in using the instruments of law to rein in the Chinese who have despoiled Nigerian soil from Zamfara to Osun state carting away gold and other precious minerals with impunity and unfeigned lawlessness.
Nigerians cannot suffer inhuman treatment in China, India, Europe, South Africa, Libya, Ghana, and elsewhere and be subjected to same in their fatherland at the ‘command’ of an immigrant. What an insult!
Tunji-Ojo should wear his patriotic cap in this matter. He’s not fighting for the shot Immigration officer. He’s fighting for Nigeria. For sovereignty, respect and values. No foreigner, no matter how powerful, has the right to order the shooting, assault of any form, of a Nigerian in Nigeria. The law should be applied on this matter, fully.
