The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has revealed that seven high-ranking commanders of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) were apprehended at the airport upon returning from the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
The suspects were arrested at the Katsina State Airport immediately after they arrived from Mecca and have since been transferred to the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) for interrogation.
Inter-agency tech integration foils escape
According to Dr. Tunji-Ojo, the seamless arrests were made possible by the real-time synchronisation of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) border portals, and the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) global network.
The minister noted that the successful operation addresses long-standing concerns regarding border vulnerabilities, referencing previous alarms raised by Senate President Godswill Akpabio about insurgents exploiting loopholes to participate in international pilgrimages.
“We inherited a fractured system where getting a passport or a driver’s license was completely disconnected from our central identity database,” Tunji-Ojo explained at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. “But today, the system is fully automated and communicates 24/7. You cannot obtain a Nigerian passport without pulling data directly from NIMC.”
A new era of national identity and security
The announcement came on the heels of a major legislative milestone, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu officially assented to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026.
The new law completely repeals and replaces the obsolete 2007 framework, providing a modern statutory backing to Nigeria’s evolving security landscape.
The NIMC Act 2026 legally solidifies the National Identification Number (NIN) under the strict principle of “One Person, One Identity.” Crucially for national security, the law grants the commission expanded, court-authorised powers to investigate identity fraud, intercept malicious data trails, execute searches, and conduct direct arrests in tandem with security forces.
Stiffer penalties for identity fraud
Beyond enhancing counter-terrorism capabilities, the newly minted legislation introduces extreme penalties to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s digital public infrastructure. Under the new provisions, individuals caught engaging in multiple registrations, impersonation, data forgery, or unauthorised access to the national database face a minimum sentence of five years in prison. Corporate entities violating data laws risk heavy fines reaching up to ₦20 million.
Government officials, including Senate President Akpabio and the Director-General of NIMC, Dr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, hailed the dual development of the law’s passage and the successful high-profile arrests. They reiterated that a centralised, secure digital identity system remains Nigeria’s most potent weapon against terrorism, identity theft, and cross-border financial crimes.
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