Travesty of justice: Fashola was right to deport Igbos from Lagos - Lagos Judge declares

Travesty of justice: Fashola was right to deport Igbos from Lagos - Lagos Judge declares 

Tell me one more thing about one Nigeria and I will slap the words right back into your mouth! 

In a clear case of injustice and confirmation of Nigeria as a failed state, Justice Musa Kurya of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Friday ruled that the Lagos State Government was right in deporting about 77 Igbos from Lagos.

The Biafran recalls that in the wee hours of the morning of July 24, 2013, a truckload carrying over hundred individuals sneaked into Onitsha and dumped the occupants. It was later in the morning that people discovered the atrocious act. The deportation, which was clearly a contravention of the 'Nigerian constitution' and trampling of the fundamental human rights of the victims attracted wide criticism especially from the Igbos, who felt once again as being treated as second-class citizens in Nigeria. The criticism forced Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to apologise to Igbos two months after. It also exposed the inhumane and unconstitutional nature of the Lagos State governor. Fashola had in his very lame defence on why he ordered the deportation, claimed it was mainly based on the yearning of the victims to leave the detection/'rehabilitation' camps for their relatives. In his press statement he justified his actions by stating that (i) that the victims had mental issues, (ii) he has been in communication with the Anambra Government through the liaison office in Lagos with respect to the deportation, (iii) that the deportees requested they should be taken to their relatives and (iv) that the victims were well taken care of at the camp.

However, from the interview conducted by the Red Cross who first attended to them in Anambra State, the victims had been found to be mentally stable. Many of them had legitimate businesses, before they were apprehended by agents of the government. Secondly, if the Lagos State government had been in communication with their counterpart in Anambra, as a responsible government, the victims should have been taken directly to the Anambra government house at Akwa, and not sneaking into Onitsha by 3am and dumping them like refuse. Moreover, it has been confirmed that majority of the victims were from other states in the South East, so why should a responsible government who cared so much for the less privileged treat human beings who they were to protect in such a callous manner? Thirdly, putting into consideration that most of the victims were already based in Lagos with their families before they were randomly picked up, their request to be taken to “their families” does not necessarily imply that they wanted to go to their villages. In addition, some of the victims have spent all their lives in Lagos and have no relative in the village. Furthermore, I still wonder how Upper Iweka had become the desired home and families of the victims as claimed by Gov Fashola. Finally, judging from the pictures of the victims, one can hardly believe that the victims were adequately taken care of while in the camp. The victims looked so tattered, famished and unkempt, which would probably confirm that they had been in a detention camp and not a rehabilitation centre as claimed by the governor. If they had actually been in a rehabilitation centre, they would not have been deported but rather reintegrated into the community (Lagos); that is if our understanding of the word rehabilitation is still accurate. In addition, Gov Fashola’s admittance that the camp should be improved upon is a clear indication that the entire scheme was a poorly thought out one, that could not be managed appropriately and he decided to choose an easy way out.

It should be noted at this point that the backbone of every democracy is the protection of the rights of mainly the minority or the less privileged in the society, who otherwise would have been mistreated by the majority. 

The applicants, Rosemary Nathaniel, Friday Ndukwe, Grace Igbochi, Ugulori Tutua, Chinyere Nicholas and Osondu Mbuto filed the suit on their behalf and 77 others, seeking the enforcement of their rights.

Joined as respondents in the suit are the Lagos State Government, the state attorney-general and the commissioner of police in the state.

The applicants had sought a declaration that their alleged arrest, remand and forceful deportation from Lagos to Onitsha, Anambra, in 2012 by the government, on the ground that they were non-indigenes of Lagos, was a violation of their personal liberty and freedom of movement.

The applicants had prayed the court to declare that the action was a violation of Sections 35, 41(1) and 42 of the Constitution and Articles 6,12, 2 and 28 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. They asked the court to award damages in the sum of N2 billion against the Lagos State Government and its agents for the alleged breach of their rights.

The applicants had also sought an order of the court compelling the respondents to apologise to them in at least three national dailies.

In his judgement, Justice Kurya held that there were conflicts in the affidavit evidence tendered by both parties, which ought to be resolved by oral evidence.

“The respondents’ case is a complete denial of the facts and circumstances as put forward by the applicants.

“The respondents said in their affidavit that they did not deport the applicants to any place outside the territory of Lagos State at anytime.

“They said that, in furtherance of state government’s policy to cater for the welfare of citizens irrespective of their origins, the applicants were rescued from different parts of state while they were begging for alms and engaging in vices.

“The respondents said that those who could not provide details of their places of residence or businesses were taken to a rehabilitation centre at Majidun, Lagos, and given an opportunity to acquire vocational skills.

“They said that it was three months after that the applicants’ home state contacted the respondents and the applicant, who had successfully completed their programme and indicated their intention to rejoin their families.

“The respondents decided to assist the applicants in getting back to their families.

“It is trite law that where there are conflicts in affidavit evidence; it is normally resolved by oral evidence, and applicant counsel did not call for such oral evidence.

“The court was therefore, left with no option but to decide the matter on available evidence.

“I do not find any substance in the case of the applicant; there seems to be truth in the respondents’ averment.

“Consequently, judgment is entered in favour of the respondents against the applicant with no cost awarded to either party,” Kurya held.

Counsel to the applicants, Mr John Nwokwu, had argued that it was unlawful for Lagos State or any other state in the country to forcefully remove a citizen of Nigeria from its geographical boundary on account of indigeneship.

Nwokwu had prayed the court to order Lagos State to go in search of the said deported Igbo indigenes and to return them to Lagos.

He had also prayed for an order restraining the respondents from further deporting the applicants out of the state.

However, the Lagos State Government argued in its counter affidavit that the applicants’ deportation to Onitsha was not done out of malice but with the intention of re-uniting them with their families.

Lagos State averred that the applicants were assisted to re-join their families after pleading that they had no homes, relatives or businesses in Lagos State.

According to the judge, Lagos denied there was no deportation: “The respondents said in their affidavit that they did not deport the applicants to any place outside the territory of Lagos State at any time.”

However, Lagos State’s counter affidavit stated that the applicants’ DEPORTATION to Onitsha was not done out of malice but with the intention of re-uniting them with their families.

So who is fooling who????