Fashola wahala over the deportation of Igbos

A human rights group has launched an investigation into the alleged deportation and dumping of 67 Igbos by the Lagos State Government, which reportedly dumped them in the famed commercial town of Onitsha, Anambra State, in the wee hours of Wednesday, July 24.

In a message posted on its website yesterday, Due Process Advocates (DPA) sought information about the incident that would enable its lawyers to launch a suit against the Lagos State Government over the issue. The message goes as follows:

“URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
“CALL ON MEMBERS FOR INFORMATION:
“Any member o DPA in Asaba, Onitsha or Awka with any information on those 70 persons that were reported to have been deported from Lagos State to Onitsha should kindly contact DPA.
“Also any member in that area who could help obtain information should please help. We are looking for the following basic information:
“(a) Name and phone number of any of the deportees.
“(b) Name and phone number of any relative of any deportee.
“(c) Name and phone number of any eyewitness to the arrival, dropping off, picking up, handling and shipment of any deportees from Lagos to Anambara State recently.
“(d) Name and number of any government official or NGO involved in this mater or who bas been reported to have made a public statement on the matter.
“Your help is needed for the lawyers to be able to do something about the problem.”

DPA, which has over 6,000 members, is known for intervening in cases involving under-privileged people, including defending them in court.

News Express reports that the Lagos State Government has come under heavy criticism from various groups for the alleged deportation of of Igbos for the second time in a year in brazen contravention of the Nigerian Constitution. http://www.osundefender.org/?p=113686

Fashola said: “I came here to say to say thank you for the honour done to my family and the memory of my late father.

“People who clearly do not understand the actions taken and words spoken are those I owe an explanation. I cannot take the Igbos for granted because we have built a relationship based on tolerance, mutual respect, love and trust. That relationship was built by our ancestors and I put a lot of value in that relationship.

“I offer an unreserved apology if the actions taken had been misunderstood.

“But I think the basic issue Aka Ikenga must address is why people feel compelled to immigrate from one part of the country to the other? Is it the case that some lack the resources to develop or perhaps some parts are endowed with enormous resources but not adequately managed?

“How can development be so difficult from the zone that has produced people like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alex Ekwueme, Ike Nwachukwu, among others?

“As political storm gathers, there are contact spots but like in football, contact spots have rules. Those who are victims of our shortcomings as professionals in and out of government should not be pounced.

“A day like these calls for deep reflection about issues of our loyalties. Are we more Igbo than Nigeria or we are more Nigeria than Igbo?”

The 76 destitute persons, who were deported by the Lagos State Government and dumped on the Upper Iweka Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State on July 24, 2013, have dragged the Lagos State Government to a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

The suit was filed by seven of the deportees: Nnenna Ogbonna, Joseph Aniebonam, Osondu Mbuto, Osondu Agwu, Emily Okoroariri, Friday Ndukwe and Onyeka Ugwu as the applicants, on behalf of the 76 others, while the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State are the respondents.

In the motion filed by their lawyer, Ugo Ugwunnadi, the applicants asked the court to declare that they, as Nigerian citizens were entitled to the enjoyment of their fundamental rights as provided for in Sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41 and 42 of the 1999 constitution, as amended.

The applicants are also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, workers and officers from their further deportation or refusing them free entry into Lagos and free exit there from, as well as an order mandating the respondents to tender a written apology to them by publishing the apology in three national newspapers continuously for 30 days, from the date of the first publication, for unlawful and gross violation of their constitutional rights.

The deportees are also seeking a declaration of the court that their arrest and detention in various camps within Lagos state for no offence known to law and without trial and conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction, amounted to a serious breach of their rights as provided for in the relevant sections of the constitution.

The suit was brought as a motion on notice pursuant to Order 11, Rule 1&2 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure Rules), 2009, Sections 34 (1) (A), 35, 40, 45 (1), 42 (1), 46 (1) and 6 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended; Articles 5, 6 and 12 of African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

They also sought an order of the court to declare that their deportation from Lagos State to Anambra State on July 24, amounted to a gross violation of their rights and a breach of the provisions of the 1999 constitution, as amended, adding that the court should mandate the first respondent to re-absorb and accommodate the applicants within Lagos State since they were Nigerian citizens and were entitled to reside in any part of the country including Lagos State. NigerianEye

THE Lagos State government has expressed its readiness to defend the N1 billion suit instituted against it over the deportation of 76 destitute to Anambra State on July 24, 2013.

The state’s Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, made this known yesterday while speaking with journalists, noting that the state would definitely file papers in response.

He stated that the state government had made it clear since the crisis started that there was no deportation whatsoever and the claim that the figure of the repatriated destitute was up to 70 is fallacious.

“We will file papers in response, of course. It is now a bizarre fiction. I thought we had made it clear enough that there were not 70 destitute and there was no deportation. I look forward to seeing what case they will bring forward”, he said.

The suit was filed at a Federal High Court in Lagos by seven of the deportees: Nnenna Ogbonna, Joseph Aniebonam, Osondu Mbuto, Osondu Agwu, Emily Okoroariri, Friday Ndukwe and Onyeka Ugwu on behalf of the 76 others.