Nigerian Immigration contacts Chinese Embassy to deport five detained nationals

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has begun moves to deport five Chinese nationals detained in Abuja amid allegations of bribery, ethnic bias, and abuse of power.

The five men — Zhang Damou, Qian Jin, Lin Jianfeng, Tang Pan, and Guo Zhengheng — were arrested on August 12,
2025, and have since been held in a detention facility at the NIS headquarters, Sauka, along Airport Road, Abuja.

This was confirmed by a top source within the Nigeria Immigration Service.

According to the source, the NIS is in the process of deporting the Chinese detainees.

The source said, ”We have informed their embassy about the arrest. We have told them to leave Nigeria, but they are now using the media to blackmail us.”

However, sources noted that the arrests were not solely connected to immigration violations but were allegedly triggered by a petition from a rival Chinese businessman, Dongfeng, who is accused of bribing senior Nigerian Immigration officials to clamp down on his competitors.

A source from the Chinese community in Nigeria stated that the arrests of his compatriots were directly linked to a petition submitted by Dongfeng.

“Dongfeng is fighting them because he sees them as his business rivals. They have been in detention since August 12, and every attempt to secure their release has failed. It looks as if Nigerian Immigration is working for Dongfeng in this case,” one of the sources said.

“Dongfeng used the company to petition them and must have bribed Immigration officials,” the source alleged.

The source specifically accused Mrs. Azuka Halliday, a Deputy Comptroller General at Immigration Headquarters, Abuja, of being compromised.

“The DCG of Immigration, Mrs. Azuka Halliday, has been compromised by Dongfeng. Even if these Chinese people were operating in Nigeria illegally, if they breached immigration laws, they could regularise it. There are penalties for it, and there are fines they can pay,” a source said.

“But because somebody paid them (the immigration), they even told me at the Immigration headquarters that the person who petitioned them is high up. Somebody, a Chinese man as well, paid them and wrote the petition against his fellow citizens.”

The insider further raised concerns about the NIS going beyond its statutory duties.
“I don’t know when Immigration has become police. How can they keep detaining them since Monday? Tomorrow will make it one week at Immigration Headquarters,” the source lamented.
 
It was learnt that the Chinese workers were accused of working with a Temporary Work Permit (TWP).

However, the workers insisted they possessed Permanent Residence Permits, while one of them had only just arrived in Nigeria a week before his arrest.

The workers also pointed to the fact that the NIS had announced an amnesty window on July 28, 2025, allowing overstayers and undocumented workers to regularise their immigration status.

However, they claimed that despite this policy, the detained Chinese workers continue to face threats of deportation and the forced closure of their factory, even before any investigation or legal proceedings have been concluded.