The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has refuted reports making the rounds in the media that the Nigerian Army had arrested two members of staff for allegedly enrolling persons in Niger Republic.
The refutation was contained in a statement issued yesterday by the director general of the commission, Aliyu Aziz, stressing that the Army had referred to the fraudsters as “fake”, meaning their claim to be NIMC staff if at all they did was proven from the beginning to be false.
Part of the statement read: “The attention of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), an agency of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has been drawn to reports making the rounds in the media, of the arrest, by the Nigerian Army, of two (2) persons purporting to be carrying out enrolment of ersons in Niger Republic, and being erroneously or spuriously referred to as NIMC officials.
“First, it is important to note well the Army’s clarification from the onset, when they referred to the fraudsters as “fake”, meaning their claim to be NIMC staff – if at all they did – was proven from the beginning to be false.
“Second, reports by the media of merely bouncing off such a news item released by the Army, in good faith, one sided without checking with NIMC if indeed such persons were its officials, shows a hurried and incomplete approach to news reporting, a situation which we urge our media partners to distance themselves from. A simple check with NIMC would have further confirmed the Army’s professional conclusion that the persons apprehended are indeed impersonators and fraudsters”.
The commission stated that neither NIMC officials nor staff of the NIMC licensed enrolment agents across the country are authorised, nor do they go from one country to another, let alone from Nigeria across the borders, to enroll Nigerians much less foreigners.
