Security agencies last week arrested seven suspected commanders of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) as they returned from the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage through the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina State.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced this on Friday.
Mr Tunji-Ojo disclosed the development at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026 into law.
According to the minister, the suspects were intercepted at the Katsina airport on Thursday last week and handed over to the State Security Service (SSS, also called DSS).
“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 from Mecca, were arrested in Katsina at the airport and were handed over to the DSS,” Mr Tunji-Ojo said.
The minister did not disclose the identities of the suspects, whether they had been on security watchlists before travelling to Saudi Arabia, how they obtained travel clearance or whether they have been formally charged. He also did not indicate whether the suspects had travelled on Nigerian passports or whether they had previously been on any domestic or international watchlists.
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Mr Tunji-Ojo attributed the arrests to improvements in Nigeria’s integrated digital identity and border management system, saying the country’s biometric identity database now communicates with immigration records and international security platforms.
“This is only possible because NIMC’s ID is already connected with the immigration database, and it’s already speaking to even the Interpol 24/7, and we have been able to automate this,” he said.
The minister said the Tinubu administration inherited fragmented identity management systems that limited information sharing across government agencies.
“When Mr President came on board, we had a disconnected system within our identity data management system. At that time, getting a passport and getting a driving permit were completely disconnected from our identity database. But today, you can’t get a Nigerian passport without pulling data from NIMC.”
He said the integration has strengthened coordination among government databases and improved the country’s ability to identify persons of security interest attempting to cross Nigeria’s borders.
