NIS arrests 55 illegal migrants from Cameroon, Congo in Osun

The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Osun State Command, has arrested 55 migrants from Cameroon and the Republic of Congo for allegedly entering the state through unauthorised routes and staying without valid travel documents.

The migrants were paraded in Osogbo on Friday following their arrest at different locations across the state.

Speaking to journalists after the exercise, the Osun State Comptroller of Immigration, Ibrahim Akinyemi, said the arrests were carried out based on intelligence received by the command.

Akinyemi described the suspects as irregular migrants and said the exercise was part of efforts to identify foreigners residing in and operating businesses in the state without the required immigration documentation.

“These people are about 55. They are irregular migrants. They were arrested and brought here for repatriation. They came in through an unauthorised route. So, their stay here has become a serious nuisance,” he said.

According to him, immigration officials traced the migrants to their various locations after gathering intelligence and subsequently brought them to the command headquarters on the directive of the NIS headquarters through the Comptroller-General.

He said the exercise was only the beginning, adding that the migrants would undergo profiling to determine their immigration status and whether any of them qualified for regularisation.

“They were apprehended through intelligence gathering. We had to go to their various locations to bring them here to the office. We have to profile and check their documents to know which ones are eligible, or which ones are legal and can be regularised,” Akinyemi stated.

The comptroller said preliminary checks showed that the migrants did not possess valid travel documents, including passports.

“They don’t even have ordinary passports, and they are here doing this illegal online business that is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission,” he added.

Akinyemi disclosed that some of the migrants were found living in the Owode-Ede area of the state, while immigration officials were continuing efforts to identify and apprehend others who might be staying at undisclosed locations.

He said the migrants told investigators that they came to Osun to engage in an online business known as QNET, although they allegedly declined to provide further details about the operation.

The comptroller also said the command would investigate how the migrants entered the state and pursue those suspected of facilitating their movement into Osun.

“They also claimed to have come through Yola (Adamawa State). By the grace of God, we are taking them back to where they came from,” he said.

One of the migrants, Ismail Mohammed, a Cameroonian national, told journalists that he arrived in Osun in February 2026 after being invited by a woman living in Chad to engage in online business in the state.

The NIS said further profiling and investigation would determine the migrants’ individual circumstances and the appropriate administrative action to be taken.