Seven Suspected Boko Haram, ISWAP Commanders Arrested At Airport – FG

The Federal Government says seven suspected commanders of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) were arrested at Katsina Airport after returning from the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Naija News reports that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Friday shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission Act (NIMC), 2026, into law.

According to the minister, the suspects were identified immediately upon arrival in Nigeria via the country’s integrated identity verification platform, then handed over to the Department of State Services for further investigation.

Tunji-Ojo attributed the arrests to the integration of the National Identity Management Commission database with the Nigeria Immigration Service and international security platforms, including Interpol.

“We inherited a fragmented identity management system where government databases operated independently. Today, our immigration database is fully integrated with NIMC and linked to Interpol’s 24-hour security network.

“It was through this integrated platform that seven known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP returning from Mecca were identified at Katsina Airport last Thursday, arrested and handed over to the DSS,” he said.

President Tinubu signed the NIMC Act, 2026, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in the presence of senior government officials, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, Attorney-General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi and NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote.

Tunji-Ojo described the legislation as a major reform aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s identity management system and enhancing collaboration among security and intelligence agencies.

The minister said the reforms would improve the country’s capacity to combat terrorism, identity fraud, financial crimes and other transnational offences.

He added that the integration had also enhanced the passport application process by ensuring that no Nigerian passport could be issued without proper identity verification through the NIMC database.

According to him, the unified identity system has significantly strengthened border security and intelligence operations by enabling security agencies to track high-risk individuals across government platforms.