The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has said there is no evidence to show that the suspected Fulani herdsmen allegedly killing members of their host communities across Nigeria are foreigners.
The Public Relations Officer of NIS, Ekpedeme King, while disclosing this, explained that foreigners coming into the country are never profiled on the basis of their ethnicity.
According to him, “There is no evidence that the herdsmen are foreigners and the immigration service doesn’t profile immigrants based on their ethnicity. So, the NIS cannot say whether the herdsmen are Nigerians or not because nobody has produced them for us to profile them.
“We are at the borders and we have not seen any herdsman coming into the country. We have our men at the borders and they are doing their job. So far, what we have heard is speculation that they are from foreign countries, but no one has profiled them to know their identities, but it is not impossible that they could be foreigners.
“We don’t ask if Fulani’s are herdsmen or not and we don’t see people coming in with cattle. We have not received reports of people coming in with cattle. When you see someone coming in with animals, we have relevant agencies to check the state of the animals. If you are importing or exporting animals, like in other countries, the port health officials are in charge of that.”
Comments