The Nigerian government has placed the diaspora sponsors of the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests on a watchlist, with plans to arrest them upon entry into the country.
This disclosure was made by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nanna Nandap, during a meeting of heads of security agencies and service chiefs convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
“We have diaspora sponsors. They are on our watch list. They are watch-listed, any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll be notified and they will be picked up and handed to the appropriate authority,” Nandap said.
The Immigration boss further revealed that the service has deployed more officers to land and airport borders to ensure effective monitoring of entry points, in response to the ongoing protests.
Nandap also stated that the service has stepped up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.
In a related development, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, disclosed that the agency has uncovered some sponsors of the protests, although he declined to provide further details.
The DSS representative, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said some accounts linked to the sponsors, who are based abroad, have been blocked, and they are being closely monitored.
The government’s move to place diaspora sponsors on a watchlist and block their accounts is seen as an effort to curtail external influence and funding of the nationwide protests against poor governance in Nigeria.
