[size=14pt]Nigeria deports hundreds of immigrants amid Islamist fears [/size]
AFP | Thursday, November 04 2010


A public transport motorcylist carring four passengers popularly called
Okada drives past a mosque in central Maiduguri, capital of Borno
State in July 2010. (AFP/File/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – Hundreds of illegal immigrants in northern Nigeria have been deported amid tight security and military patrols over a series of attacks blamed on an Islamist sect, an official said Thursday.

"We have so far repatriated almost a thousand illegal immigrants from neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon who have been in Nigeria without valid documents," said Babayo Alkali, head of immigration for Borno state.

"This becomes necessary in view of the approaching elections and the current security situation in Borno state."

The crackdown began on Wednesday and would continue throughout the state, he said.

Authorities have blamed a series of attacks in northern Nigeria in recent months on an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which launched an uprising last year crushed by a brutal military and police assault.

Recent incidents have included attacks on police stations, a prison raid and shootings of police officers by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Much of the violence has occurred in Borno state, whose capital Maiduguri was the centre of last year's uprising. Troops have been deployed in the area in response.

"We can't leave anything to chance," said Alkali, who did not refer to Boko Haram by name.

"The current security threat is not something we can just take for granted. Anybody could be involved in it, and illegal immigrants who are a bit more difficult to trace can easily be used to perpetrate criminality."

Allegations have been made in past campaign seasons that illegal immigrants were used as part of ballot rigging. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, holds elections early next year.

http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.eb73a63c407e2efc62c85f36cf211a85.721

Naija dey vex now o. If you live in Naija illegally, make sure you have your papers. Bkbabe, be careful how you roam around in Yorubaland before you get your backside deported back to America. IlekeIdi will surely call Nigerian immigration on you.