It was an unforgettable experience in Ibadan on Wednesday, 18th August 2021 when the men of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), harassed the Executive Chairman of Ibadan North Local Government, Honourable Yusuf Sahib Oladayo ‘Agba Egbe’ alongside his aides and career officers of the council.
In a chit-chat with one of the aides of the Chairman who gave insider details of what transpired between the Council Boss and the Immigration officers, he described the incident as strange and annoying having considered the way the officers maltreatment them.
In concise information made available to OYOMIND, he narrated that the Chairman was at the Immigration Office together with his aides and two councilors from wards seven and eight in which one of them needed to get her international passport.
According to him, the Chairman gave the councillor a recommendation letter to the Immigration in which they denied with the excuse that there is a discrepancy in the letter, compared to the previous letter they had received.
“The Chairman was there to clear the discrepancy in the letter of recommendation given to one of the councillors. The immigration rejected the letter because the previous ones they had received did not correlate with the one the councillor brought. You know the Chairman uses seal but the previous letters were sent using stamp.
“On our way to the office around 1:30 pm, upon getting to their gate, we were told to identify ourselves together with the Chairman which we did, this is a usual protocol before strangers are allowed into their premises.
“A few minutes later, we stepped out to wait for the councilors, while we were standing in from of the building, one of their officers was shouting at us to leave where we are as if we have had any issue in the past.
“So one of us cautioned him to address us politely since we did not commit any offence. That was the beginning of the fracas. As we were trying to re-introduce the Chairman, he was not going to listen, he even said who cares if he is the Chairman” he said.
The aide further narrated how one of them who was trying to calm the situation got his Identification Card snatched by an officer which he tried to drag with them till they started beating him.
“One thing leads to another, one of us who is also an aide to the Chairman was trying to calm the situation with proper introduction got his ID Card snatched by an officer who ran into their premises. He followed the officer but he was ganged up against, got beaten while his gadgets were seized.
“The Chairman got back to the council after he had been molested, and these officers led by their commandant came to the local government premises to harass career workers, politicians and others who were present. In fact, they fired tear gas and gunshots at the Chairman and others after which we were locked in the local government for hours.”
He concluded that the Chairman who called for calm gave a directive that no officer of the immigration should be allowed to pack at the local government premises since they have decided to treat them as strangers.
Gadget such as phones,recording pen, and power bank were damaged, cameras worth one million and five hundred thousand amongst others.
