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The Nigerian Navy (NN) has handed over nine suspected stowaways to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) after rescuing them from a merchant vessel in Lagos.

The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Beecroft effected the handover on Friday following the discovery of the suspects concealed in the propeller compartment of MT *Evgenia* two days earlier.

According to a statement by the Commander of NNS Beecroft, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, the suspects were found on Wednesday, August 19, and evacuated to the naval base for preliminary investigation and profiling.

He said investigations revealed that the suspects boarded the vessel while it was berthed at the Flour Mills Jetty in Apapa, allegedly intending to travel illegally to Europe.

The suspects were identified as Thompson Vincent, 23; Emmanuel Philip, 24; Tobi Olalekan, 32; Omotayo Adebowale, 43; Abdullahi Idowu, 21; Tunde Mustapha, 19; Jamiu Ismaila, 25; Ibrahim Alabi, 30; and Christian Kadiri, 22.

Adams-Aliu said the handover was part of ongoing collaboration among security agencies to curb illegal migration and strengthen maritime security.

He urged parents, guardians and other authority figures to discourage young people from attempting to board seagoing vessels illegally, noting that the dangers associated with the practice extended beyond Nigeria to other West African coastal states.

He added that NNS Beecroft would continue to support the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, in deploying a professional naval force to safeguard Nigeria’s maritime interests and support national security operations.

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A United States District Court in Manhattan has nullified the President Donald Trump administration’s policy suspending the processing and issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, including Nigeria.

In a ruling delivered on Friday, U.S District Judge Jeannette Vargas described the January directive by the State Department as patently unlawful and said it exceeded the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The policy, which took effect on January 21, had barred the issuance of immigrant visas to nationals of 75 countries because they posed “a high risk for becoming a public charge” and of relying on U.S. government cash assistance.

Affected countries are: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea and Haiti.

Other countries on the list are:  Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

President Donald Trump had, early in the year, published a list of welfare-dependent rates among immigrants, noting that about 33.3 per cent of Nigerian immigrant households received some form of public assistance.

According to the directive, older or overweight applicants, as well as those with any past use of government cash assistance or institutionalisation, can be denied.

But in delivering the judgment, Judge Vargas, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, held that the suspension ran afoul of federal immigration law, which expressly removed the Secretary of State’s authority over the consular processing of immigrant visas.

“The policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” she wrote.

Immigrant rights groups, Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, filed the suit, alongside U.S. citizens sponsoring family members and visa applicants from the affected countries.

The State Department had, in a cable sent to U.S missions in January, directed consular officers to refuse applicants whose visas were “print-authorized” but not yet printed.

It said the suspension was part of a full review to ensure the highest level of screening and vetting and to prevent foreign nationals from exploiting U.S welfare systems.

“Applicants from these countries are at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state and federal government resources in the United States,” the cable stated.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott had defended the move, saying: “The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge in the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people.

“Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”

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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s emerging 2027 campaign council as a “rehabilitation centre” for persons facing unresolved corruption questions.

In a statement by Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, the party questioned the inclusion of former officials Betta Edu and Ngozi Olejeme.

It called on the government to disclose whether outstanding corruption cases involving them had been resolved or this appointment is Tinubu’s way of pardoning corrupt officials affiliated with his party.

The party stated that most of the individuals assembled for the President’s campaign lack credibility, insisting that the 2027 general election is going to be a referendum on Tinubu’s performance in the last three years.

According to the ADC, what should ordinarily be a political task team ended up looking like a rehabilitation system for individuals carrying unresolved questions of corruption and public accountability.

The party said: “We note, especially the inclusion of former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Betta Edu, who was suspended by President Tinubu following the controversy surrounding the attempted transfer of N585 million into a private account as well as Former NSITF Chairman Ngozi Olejeme, who has faced EFCC prosecution over allegations of financial malpractices , among others whose name carry pungent odour of corruption.

“One important question that the inclusion of these individuals provokes is what happened to the cases involving these individuals. If they have been cleared, the government should show how and when and by whom they were cleared. It has become a familiar pattern under this administration for investigations into financial crimes to quietly disappear only for the accused to suddenly reappear in a different official role.

“Under this government, corruption allegations increasingly appear to have an expiry date. Once a person becomes politically useful enough, yesterday’s questions apparently no longer require today’s answers.

“2027 WILL BE A REFERENDUM ON TINUBU’S PERFORMANCE.

“For emphasis, the 2027 election will be a referendum on President Tinubu’s record. The President may assemble his old friends and political allies, including those carrying unresolved corruption questions, but all of their collective brooms cannot sweep away the grave pains they have brought on the Nigerian people. They cannot campaign away the cost of living crisis or the endemic poverty that their bad policies have created.”

The party pointed out that for three years the present administration have told Nigerians who can barely afford food to tighten their belts, while those connected to the government continue to live in obscene opulence, feeding fat on the common wealth.

The ADC reinstated its commitment to subsidise production of fuel as a way of bringing down the pump price of petrol and the general cost of living in the country.

The statement added: “We have observed the flurry of government sponsored attacks on our proposal for a targeted, capped, budgeted and independently audited subsidy intervention on the grounds that Nigeria cannot afford it.

“However, what we understand the APC government to be saying is that Nigeria cannot afford to protect struggling families. They are saying that a government that has continued to engage in monumental waste of resources cannot afford to help poor Nigerians who are merely struggling to survive.

“Our proposal is straightforward: every naira must be traceable and every barrel accounted for. Before President Tinubu lectures Nigerians about the cost of helping them, he should account for the cost of his own government’s wrong-headed policy that has turned state governors into wastrels and federal agents into profligates.”