Deportation Of 12,000 Refuges: Cameroon Did Not Follow Due Process, Says Immigration Chief

From Tom Garba, Yola
The Nigerian Immigration Service has said the 12,000 refugees deported by Cameroonian authorities, from that country were illegally pushed out without adhering to the laws governing international refugees, hence Cameroun failed to observe any form of due process.
This disclosure was made yesterday, by the state comptroller of immigrations Adamawa state command Mr. Ikpi Ubi Nkanu, in Yola, while highlighting the need for the federal government to come out with a policy intervention that will quickly see the demarcation of the countries border with other countries, particularly that with Cameroun because of its expansive nature.
The head of the immigration service for Adamawa state command regretted that the expulsion of Nigerian nationals has created serious humanitarian catastrophe along their borderline, lamenting that it came from a fellow sister African country.
Ikpi added that with the way things stand owing to the expansive nature of the borders, only the use of latest technological gadgets could adequately ensure the effective manning of the country’s borders.
The immigration chief who observed that the immigration service had already appealed to the federal government to come out with a policy that will clearly demarcate her borders from other countries, said “presently, we appear to be overstretched. However, everything is being done despite the constraint to make sure we effectively man the borders”.
Ikpi who explained that sooner or later the federal government will have to engage more hands through recruitment to get the activities of the immigration service going, extolled the role played by the immigration service in averting the serious humanitarian condition that could have befell the 12,000 Nigerian refugees deported by Cameroon, who arrived the Sahuda border control post manned by 25 immigration officials without prior notice.
He noted that the actions of the Cameroonians “were hasty because even people with valid papers were repatriated back to Nigeria. I repeat if it were Nigeria which did what the Cameroonians did there would have been international outcry against this country.
“It is really disappointing that a sister African country can expel Nigerians from their territories. I know under international laws, it is the inherent rights of the country to decide who resides in their countries. But this one ought to have been done with due process, not to just grab people like that and just take them back to Nigeria,” he said.