Newly-appointed Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede Tuesday at his maiden meeting with senior management of the Service sent a clear message which suggested it was not going to be business as usual.
While admonishing the staff of the service to be more professional and shun acts that would bring the Service to disrepute, he ordered the arrest of all former political office holders who are still in possession of their diplomatic passports.
The Service had earlier directed out-of-office public officers to return their Diplomatic passports but not many heeded the directive. Immigration officers at the airports confirmed there were still some Nigerians carrying Diplomatic passports months and years after leaving office.
Those involved include former ministers, Special Advisers and sundry aides in the Presidency as well as other top political appointees.
Diplomatic passports are usually issued to some categories of public officers and political appointees to allow for ease of travel at short notices but the gesture had been abused as some of them hold on to such document.
By the current directive, a senior Immigration officer told our reporter that tough times await Nigerians who are no longer entitled to diplomatic passport but are still using it. “They will be embarrassed at the airports, that’s all”, he said.
