Nigeria orders closure of borders ahead of polls

Land and sea borders across Nigeria are to be closed from March 26 to midnight of March 28 to allow for a hitch-free election, the country's immigration service said on Wednesday.

In a statement issued to reporters in Abuja, the country's capital city, David Parradang, the comptroller-general of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), warned non-Nigerians resident in the country not to involve themselves in the forthcoming elections.

Parradang gave the warning during a meeting with some embassy officials and leaders of West African regional bloc communities resident in Nigeria.

He said that non-Nigerians, particularly those from neighboring countries such as Cameroon and Chad, caught interfering in the electoral process would be made to face the law.

According to him, the warning became necessary to ensure that the existing robust relationship among member states in the sub- region is not undermined by unnecessary interference in the internal electoral affairs of member states.

Nigeria's rescheduled presidential and national assembly elections will be held on March 28, while the governorship and state congresses elections on April 11.

The elections were previously set on Feb. 14 and Feb. 28 respectively. The country announced on Feb. 7 a six-week postponement to the elections citing fears over security and the Boko Haram insurgency. Endi