Deportation crisis: Lagos ‘deportee’ dies in Anambra, others in critical health condition

Deportees

by Akan Ido

The ‘deportation’ controversy between the Lagos State Government and that of Anambra continues to rage as one of the deportees has been reported dead.

The sixty seven deportees who were said to have been picked up in different locations in the Lagos metropolis by officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) have allegedly spent between six months and two years in different detention centres before been ‘deported’ to Anambra state in the early hours of Julu 24, 2013.

Reports say relatives of the deportees surged  Onitsha, where many of them were taken to their different family houses while the Red Cross team took the others to Onitsha South Local government township Stadium, where they were given first aid treatment and  food.

More relatives of the remaining deportees arrived on daily basis, from outside the state to identify their relatives.

According to reports from the Vanguard Newspapers, only five of the deportees are left in a one-room apartment at the stadium. Their identities were given as; Friday Ndukwe from Ohafia in Abia State; Grace Igbochi who claimed to be a Lagosian, Ugulari Tutua from Warri, Delta State; Chinyere Nicholas from Awomamma, Imo State and Rosemary Nathaniel from Ubakala Umuahia, Abia State.

According to Nneoma Judith Nwora, a member of the NRCS and Education Officer attached to the Onitsha South Local Government Education Authority, one of the deportees died on Friday after a protracted illness and three of them are said to be unconscious.

Rev. Sisters from the nearby Madonna Mercy Convent are reported to have indicated interest in caring for them until they recover and fit to go home.

Osondu Mbuto, one of the ‘deportees’ who claimed to be a trader originally from Ebonyi state spoke with the press saying he was not a destitute as claimed by the Lagos state government. According to him, he was on his way to his shop on December 18, 2012 when he was picked up by KAI officials.

He lamented that since his arrest, he was left incommunicado for eight months in a cell around Ikorodu area of Lagos before he was brought to Onitsha.

“I am a Lagos-based petty trader. I packed my goods somewhere  and  went to eat. As I was going, three persons approached me . Thinking they were miscreants on a mission to dispossess me of my goods, I decided to  give them some money. Then, all of a sudden,  I saw an armed policeman pointing his gun at me. he  ordered me to follow the KAI officials. Out of fear, I joined them as they marched me into a waiting vehicle and drove away.

“My initial suspicion was that they were taking us to Alausa police station, where they used to detain people unlawfully only to release them later after parting with some money. But no! they took me to another place in  Ikorodu,close to Ijebu-Ode. After taking my statement, they pushed me inside the cell where I was, for eight months.

  • “Two days before we were deported, a man whom they called boss came with a paper and a biro and said those of us interested in going to our home town should put down our names. Some did while others did not for fear that they were going to be killed. That was how we were sandwiched inside a truck and brought here at the wee hours,” he said.

Comments (3)

  1. what is the igbo governors saying and doing. does an igbo need a visa to stay in lagos ? If so all yorubas in igbo should produce their permission to stay in igbo land .Nigeria is a joke of a nation .

  2. Lagos is state i spent 20years of in it, since fashola took the leadership of the government kai turned to kick against igbos. Every igbo should beware of that simple

  3. Gov Fashola is finding difficulties in explaining his over-zealous action to a shocking nation. He was challenging Gov Obi for reporting the matter to the President querring which section of the constitution empowers the President to settle dispute between states. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria should tell Nigerians which section of the constitution authorises him to deport a citizen.

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