TheCable

‎Muhammad Babandede, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has ordered the arrest of illegal holders of diplomatic passports.

He directed officers on duty at various airports to be on the look out for former ministers, governors, diplomats, national assembly members, who were still in possession of the document.He gave the order while speaking with senior officers of the NIS‎ in Abuja on Tuesday.

“Charges will be pressed against unauthorised holders of such documents because such persons are no longer in the eligibility list and are, therefore, in contravention of Sec. 10 of the Extant Immigration Act, 2015,” he said.

“I am hereby directing that unauthorised holders of such passports be arrested at the airports and other points of entry/departure. Efforts will be made to trace such unauthorised holders in their given addresses.”

His order followed the September 2015 directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to the service to retrieve diplomatic passports from former public office holders.‎

He added since the directive was issued 158 diplomatic passports had been retrieved.‎