Residents of Onitsha, Anambra State, were greeted
with the sight of 67 persons later discovered to have been deported from
Lagos, Wednesday, July 24. The deportees, majority of whom were of Igbo
extraction were dumped like helpless refugees at the popular Upper Iweka area
of the commercial city. On enquiry, they disclosed that they were arrested
by Officials of Lagos State Kick Against
Indiscipline,KAI from various parts of Lagos. They further stated that they were
detained in different prison custody for a period of six months to two years
before they were brought into Onitcha at about 3.20am.
From their looks, it was discovered that majority
of them were not beggars after all. Some of them were discovered to be hawkers
whose goods were reportedly seized by KIA officials. But owing to the trauma,
they looked pale, malnourished and sick.
When news of the deportation spread across
the state, officials of the Nigerian Red Cross Society led by its South East
zonal chairman, Dr. Peter Emeka Katcy, arrived the scene at about 6am, where
they began a section of interview with the deportees apparently to ascertain
their claims.
*Sranded persons numbering about 70 allegedly
dumped at the upper axis of Onitsha, Anambra State at about 3:20 a.m. by
unknown persons. PHOTO: NAN.
*File Photot: Sranded persons numbering about 70
allegedly dumped at the upper axis of Onitsha, Anambra State at about 3:20 a.m.
by unknown persons. PHOTO: NAN
By noon, relatives of the some of the deportees
surged Onitsha, where a total of 41 of them were taken to their different
family houses while the Red Cross team whisked the remaining 18 to Onitsha South
Local government township Stadium, where they were given first aid treatment
and food.
At the stadium, more relatives of the remaining deportees
arrived on daily basis, from outside the state, identified their own and took
them home. Some of them, who were certified medically fit and could find their
ways home, were given transport fare.
We were treated like criminals in our own
country—deportees
Speaking with Crime Guard, the deportees
expressed regrets that a thing like this was happening in a country they were
citizens. They accused KIA officials of carrying out indiscriminate arrests
of non-indigenes of Lagos, adding that majority of those detained
in various local government cells in Lagos State were Igbos.
According to one of the deportees who gave her
name as Rosemary Nathaniel, a native of Ubakala in Umuahia, Abia State, “I was
neither a beggar nor a hawker for the past five years I lived in Lagos. I was
working at a T-shirt weaving centre at Mile 2, Lagos and I lived with my
sister. But in January this year, KAI officials and some policemen arrested me
and my friend while we were standing and discussing on the road. We were
dragged into their waiting vehicle and taken to a prison at Alausa area of
Lagos.
We saw other people who were also arrested. They
took us round the area, made other arrests before taking us all to the prison.
The painful aspect of it was that they never
bothered to ask any of us where we lived or what were doing for a living. As I
speak, my sister whom I live with does not know anything about my whereabouts.
It is so sad that this is happening in one’s own country.
Another deportee who identified himself as Osondu
Mbuto, a trader from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State said he was arrested by KAI officials
while on his way to his shop on December 18, 2012. 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”
One dead, others unconscious
As at Monday, this week, only five of them were
left in the 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 Nocholas from Awomamma, Imo
State and Rosemary Nathaniel from Ubakala Umuahia,Abia State.
A member of the NRCS and Education Officer
attached to the Onitsha South Local Government Education Authority, Mrs. Nneoma
Judith Nwora, disclosed that one of the deportees died Friday from a protracted
illness, adding that the five remaining deportees comprised two males and three
females.
Three of them according to her, were unconscious
at the moment, adding that some Rev. Sisters from nearby Madonna Mercy Convent
had indicated interest to come and pick them for feeding and medical treatment
until they recovered and were fit to go home.
Reactions trail deportation
Reacting to the development, the South East Zonal
Red Cross boss, Katchy, described the action of the Lagos State Government as
condemnable, adding, “it is very despicable and disheartening that a state in
the Federal Republic of Nigeria will bundle people who are in that state, who
are not indigenes of Anambra State, and dumped them under the fly-over bridge
at Upper Iweka in Onitsha and left them to their fate.
Most of the people interviewed are not even
indigenes of Anambra State. Some of them are from Ebonyi, Imo and other states.
This is an insult to Anambra State. We shall draw
the attention of His Excellency, the Governor of Anambra State, Mr.Peter Obi to
it, and ask why such invasion in his territory and we will find out why Lagos
State should invade Anambra State territory by dumping people here helplessly.
Also, in a communique issued at the end of the
general meeting of the Onitsha branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA),
the association insisted that those deported be recalled by the Lagos State
Government,threatening to take legal actions against Lagos State government if
such exercise was carried out again.
The association also appealed to the
Anambra State government to come to the assistance of those affected
by providing means of transportation to them to enable them go back to
their various states of origin,even as it called on the Federal Government to
call the Lagos State government to order.
The Lagos State government has however debunked
allegation that it deported indigenes of Anambra State, clarifying that it only
carried out a rehabilitation and resettlement of citizens from other states.
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