AKS police sacks illegal Hausa men

The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Etim Dickson says the police force in the state last Saturday had handed over some persons suspected to be illegal immigrants to the Nigeria Immigrations Service in Uyo for onward repatriation to their homes. The Police spokesman said this while answering questions from THE INK reporter on the recent bomb scare that shook Uyo and its environs.

Late last week, a combined team of Army and Policemen were seen escorting some Hausa men to the Uyo Sports stadium after information had filtered into the state that some of them had come into the state with some parcels of bomb heaped in between some yam tubers heading to the prestigious Akpanandem market.

But Etim Dickson said there was no bomb and that the military and the Police acted on a tip off that some illegal immigrants from outside the country had invaded the state. He said when the security formations got the information; they needed to act fast by ensuring that they round up the persons involved and then took them to the Uyo Sports stadium for screening. Etim Dickson said those that came into the state without due process and those whose papers had expired were immediately taken to the immigrations office in Uyo were they will be returned to their country.

Etim Dickson while speaking to our reporter on phone said, “My brother, Good afternoon. I have just seen your text, I just came back from church and I said let me read through it. First of all there was no bomb. What you saw or what you heard of was a joint operation. It was a joint operation with the military and the police; we were trying to screen these other Hausa people. There was, we received intelligent report that some of them were not Nigerians. That some of them just came around so we decided to screen them. 

Those who were not with resident papers were sent packing, they were sent to the immigrations for them to be repatriated. So that is what happened, meanwhile there is no threat, none of them was taken to Ikot Akpanabia, they were screened at the stadium. Those who had no valid papers were handed over to the immigrations to be repartriated. So what we need was a security measure to protect our state, nobody was taken to Ikot Akpanabia, the screening was done in the stadium.

Efforts to speak with the immigrations office in Uyo proved abortive as at press time.