Seun Shotunde, Abeokuta
No fewer than 45 illegal immigrants from Benin Republic, Chad, Sudan and other African countries have been arrested by the police in the bid to curb social vices in Ogun community.
Secretary of the Conflict Resolution Committee and Other Related Matters, Hadi Sani, who disclosed this in an exclusive interview on Monday, in Abeokuta, said that the committee facilitated the arrest in Sabo community to check anti-social behaviours in the area.
He said that the 45 illegal immigrants were nabbed in Sabo community following the alarm raised by Hausa residents over strange faces and behaviours of the immigrants which were alien to the people of the community.
Sani, who doubles as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Inter-Ethnic Affairs, said that the committee upon the information received, contacted the police, the immigrants were arrested and handed over to the immigration office in the state for further investigation.
Sani said, “Of recent we made some arrests of some foreign nationals from Chad Cameroon, and Sudan because some of this country, like Sudan are in war. We have arrested over 45 illegal immigrants in Sabo area.
“We were able to do that because the people of the area raised the alarm, because when they see strange people, they hand them to security officers who in turn hand them over to the Immigration Service. Some are illegal immigrants, some are legal, some are war-displaced fellows, because you cannot vouch for anyone.”
He also dismissed the notion that the committee was set up by the Dapo Abiodun-led administration to only address farmers-herders clash, insisting that other objectives of the committee is to combat social vices in communities across the state.
Sani noted that the committee, since its establishment, had been able to resolve farmer-herder clash and prevent it from escalating through the effective support and cooperations from its stakeholders, including heads of villages and Fulani leaders in the state.
He noted that improved dialogue and peaceful communications were needed to mitigate the effects of the menace between the farmers-herders, while calling for a cordial relationship between the two groups due to their contributions to agriculture and livestock production to boost food security in the state.
