Boko Haram fighters have reportedly attacked a joint security post near Muna in Borno State, killing an officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and injuring several soldiers attached to the 195 Battalion.
Sources within the Immigration Service told SaharaReporters on Tuesday that the insurgents launched the attack around 2:00 a.m. on November 30 at the “Charly Company” location, opening fire on personnel stationed there.
Reinforcement teams were said to have arrived shortly after, prompting the attackers to flee into the bush.
The slain immigration officer was identified by colleagues as Assistant Immigration Officer IA II Lucky, a member of the NIS Batch 13 contingent deployed under Operation Hadin Kai.
“Immigration officers are not trained for frontline combat,” one source said. Another officer, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter, expressed frustration over what he described as “the dangerous and unfair deployment” of immigration personnel to active combat zones.
“We are overstretched, under-equipped and exposed,” he added, calling on the Comptroller General of Immigration to urgently intervene to protect NIS staff serving in conflict areas.
“The Controller General must come to our aid. Immigration is not a combat force. We support operations, but we should not be placed directly in harm’s way,” a senior officer stated.
Sources also accused some senior officials of favouritism in duty roster schedules, alleging that certain personnel were shielded from hazardous deployments.
“The CG should caution his G1 and admin,” one officer said. “It appears they favour some people and leave the rest of us to face the toughest assignments. We will come back to that issue.”
As of the time of filing this report, the Nigerian Army had yet to issue an official statement on the incident. Attempts by SaharaReporters to reach NIS spokesperson Akinsola Akinlabi were unsuccessful, as calls and text messages seeking clarification were not answered.
Security operations are ongoing in the Muna axis, a known hotspot for insurgent activity on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
The attack comes amid a sharp rise in terrorist and bandit incidents over the past two weeks, which recently prompted the federal government to declare a national security emergency.
