The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Osun State Command, has arrested 55 irregular migrants from Cameroon and the Republic of Congo for allegedly entering Nigeria through unauthorised routes and staying in the country without valid travel documents.

The migrants were arrested at different locations across Osun State and paraded by the Immigration Service in Osogbo on Friday, August 21, 2026.

Speaking with journalists after the exercise, the Osun State Comptroller of Immigration, Ibrahim Akinyemi, said the arrests followed intelligence gathering by the command.

According to him, the migrants were traced to their various residences and taken into custody for profiling and verification of their immigration status.

Akinyemi said preliminary checks showed that the migrants did not possess valid travel documents, including passports, and had allegedly entered the country through unauthorised routes.

He explained that some of the migrants were found residing in the Owode-Ede area of the state, while the command was continuing efforts to locate others believed to be staying at undisclosed locations.

The Comptroller further disclosed that the migrants told investigators they came to Osun State to engage in an online business identified as QNET. He said the business activities they were engaged in were not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Akinyemi, however, said the migrants would undergo further profiling to determine whether any of them could be legally regularised before the appropriate administrative action is taken.

He also disclosed that some of the migrants claimed to have entered Nigeria through Yola, Adamawa State. The Immigration Service said it would investigate those suspected of facilitating their movement into Osun State.

One of the arrested migrants, Ismail Mohammed, a Cameroonian national, reportedly said he arrived in Osun State in February 2026 after being invited by a woman living in Chad to participate in an online business.

The NIS said the arrested migrants were being processed for repatriation, subject to the completion of the necessary profiling and immigration procedures.

The Osun Command also indicated that the operation was only the beginning of a wider enforcement exercise aimed at identifying and addressing irregular migration and undocumented foreign nationals operating within the state.