Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, says seven suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) commanders have been arrested at the Katsina airport while re-entering Nigeria from hajj in Saudi Arabia.
The minister spoke on Friday at the presidential villa in Abuja, shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026 into law.
Tunji-Ojo said the suspects were intercepted last Thursday and handed over to the Department of State Services (DSS).
According to him, the arrests were made possible by the integration of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Interpol systems.
I know, some time ago, the senate president said something on the floor of the senate, that some people went on pilgrimage, some terrorists and etcetera, that how did they cross our borders?” he said.
“Because what we inherited was a fractured system. But I’m happy to tell you that even last week Thursday, seven of the known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP, at the point of coming back, were arrested in Katsina at the airport and were handed over to the DSS.
And this is only possible because NIMC’s ID is already connected with the immigration database and is already speaking to Interpol 24/7. And we have been able to automate this.”
Tunji-Ojo said the federal government has also completed an Integrated Operations Centre (IOC) to strengthen internal security and coordinate surveillance across Nigeria’s air and maritime borders.
And with the new IOC that the ministry of interior has built — which is the first time in the history of Nigeria that we will be having an Integrated Operations Centre managing our internal security processes — all our maritime and our air border systems have been fully controlled,” he said.
“And that was evident last week. They thought it was business as usual, when they will leave and come back, but they were picked right there and handed over to the DSS on Thursday.
“We had to airlift them to Abuja on Saturday and hand them over. They’re in custody as we speak.”
The minister said Nigeria’s air borders are now effectively secured, although he admitted that land borders remain vulnerable.
“So, nobody can come through the air borders. The land border is still a bit porous. We are already working on that,” he said.
“And with this new Act, it has given us the necessary powers. It has given us the necessary tools to be able to do things.
“As they always say, there’s no right way of doing what is illegal. If the law is not with you, no matter how good it is, it is bad.
