THE recent arrest of fake staff of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, at a refugee camp in Niger Republic where they were registering foreign nationals for the Nigerian National Identity Numbers, NIN, is yet another of the numerous acts of violations of Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by one of our neighbours.
According to the Director of Defence Information, Major-General Musa Danmadami at a news briefing, the two suspects were caught in the act at the Gagamari refugee camp, Niger Republic, with registration machine, printing machine, laminating machine, a computer tracking machine, a generator set, and other items.
Perhaps, an ongoing investigation may be able to unravel how they came by those items and who sent them on that mission.
Violation of Nigeria’s territorial integrity is a pastime that both the high and low from both countries regularly engage in without caring for the consequences of the actions on Nigeria’s national interest.
The worst offender has been President Muhammadu Buhari, who is building a railway from Kano to Maradi, Niger Republic, despite stiff opposition from Nigerians. That project is being executed with $1.9 billion foreign loans.
It is an abuse of office and a violation of his oath of allegiance to Nigeria which Nigerian taxpayers will continue to shoulder long after he has left power.
Also, during his campaigns for the office of president, the president and some governors of Niger Republic felt free to come down to Nigeria to attend Buhari’s rallies.
Niger Republic’s border with Nigeria is possibly the most porous in Africa, if not the entire world, with almost unchecked access of smuggled goods, roaming herdsmen, bandits and jihadist terrorists heading for Nigeria at all times.
Nigeria has become a dumping ground for all manner of Sahel filth because we have failed to secure our Northern border the way we try to do our Eastern and Western flanks.
Many citizens of neighbouring countries freely participate in our censuses as though they were Nigerians.
They also illegally register and vote in Nigerian elections, thus distorting our demographic and electoral affairs.
