The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede has warned personnel of the Service to reject kind and cash rewards from politicians while carrying out their duties during the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.
Babandede gave this warning while speaking at the beginning of a one-day training workshop for very senior officers of the NIS at the Service headquarters on Monday.
“No immigration officer should collect food from the politicians during the elections period”, he warned.
“When I told you not to collect food, don’t even think of collecting money”, Babandede stressed.
He said the training titled: “The role of Nigeria Immigration Service in strategic management, planning and operations approach towards achieving a credible general elections in 2019” will give personnel the guidelines to follow while performing their duties during the polls.
While urging personnel of the Service to be apolitical, he assured that all logistics would be provided to ensure smooth operation during the polls.
Over 10,000 personnel of the NIS will be deployed during the elections, Babandede disclosed.
He said apart from ensuring that non-Nigerians are not allowed to vote, the NIS will also ensure that foreigners are not allowed to cross the Nigerian borders to cause mayhem during the polls.
“Nobody will be allowed to cross the border into the country during the election. We will also go round the polling units to apprehend any foreigner trying to vote,” Babandede assured Nigerians, following claims that some political parties were trying to bring in foreigners to participate in the elections.
