By Adeyinka Adeniran
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has vowed to prosecute officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), involved in the humiliation and assault of the officials of Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA) while on their official duties.
The OYRTMA officers, Nurudeen Abiola and Taiwo Adeagbo, were arrested, detained and allegedly stripped naked by the officers of the Zone F Command of the NIS for apprehending an Immigration Officer who violated traffic rule.
The Immigration officers were caught driving on one way against traffic along Onipepeye bridge underpass.
Makinde, while paying visits to the families of the affected victims on Monday at their residences in Oke-Ibadan Ifelajulo and Olunloyo, respectively, condemned the actions of the Immigration officers, emphasising that such behaviour is unacceptable regardless of any individual’s position within a federal agency.
The governor, who vowed to prosecute the Immigration officers involved in the incident, said he has tasked the state’s Attorney General with writing to the Immigration authorities to ensure accountability.
He said: “This is unacceptable whether you are Immigration official, you work for other paramilitary agencies does not say you are superior.”
“These individuals are just trying to enforce the law of the state. Because you work for federal agency does not mean you are superior.”
“So, I have asked the Honourable Attorney General, we would follow this through. We will write to Immigration authorities and then we would prosecute the people involved.”
The governor also visited the state command of NIS, where he met with Comptroller, Abdulrasheed Ademola to officially report the incident.
During the visit, Makinde emphasised the importance of cooperation between the state government and the NIS in ensuring such incidents do not occur in the future.
He also stressed that the state maintains a zero-tolerance policy for individuals violating traffic rules and expressed confidence in the support of both the NIS and Zone F command in addressing this issue.
He advocated a better intra and inter-agency cooperation among security agencies in the state. He equally declared that there must not be a recurrence of such incident, saying: “Oyo State is known for inter- and intra-agency cooperation. So, the incident is very unfortunate.
“I have asked the State’s Comptroller of Immigration that they should cooperate with us. Yes, they said this thing happened at the zonal level. There is an ACG in charge of the zone, who we plan to reach out to.
“I have been assured by the Nigerian Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, and also the zone, that they will cooperate with us to get to the bottom of this matter and ensure that this does not happen again.
“Oyo State must be known for the rule of law and we have zero tolerance for people breaking traffic rules.”
