Deportation of dissidents

In 1885, the British colonial regime deported King Jaja of Opobo to a remote island in West Indies where he died in 1889. His offence was that he had challenged the imperialist control of the coastal trade. In 1941, Comrade Michael Imoudu, President of the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen was deported from Lagos and banished to his hometown, Auchi in the Benin Province as he was considered “a potential threat to public safety” . He only returned to Lagos in 1945 following the revocation of sections 57-63 of the General Defence Regulation, 1941 under which he had been detained. There were other nationalist agitators and labour leaders who were deported and banished to prevent them from taking part in the struggle against colonialism. The barbaric practice of deporting Nigerians was resuscitated by the defunct military dictatorship. In particular, the reactionary regimes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha resorted to the crude harassment of political opponents by deportation.

In 1992 the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, Dr Beko Ransome -Kuti and I were deported from Lagos and detained at Kuje prison for challenging the unending military rule of the Babangida junta. The retired General Zamani Lekwot was deported from Kaduna and detained with us in the prison. The following year we were also repatriated from Lagos and banished to the same prison for leadingpeaceful rallies in Lagos against the criminal annulment of the June 12 presidential election. In June 1994, the winner of the presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola was deported from Lagos and detained in military custody in Kano, Borno and Abuja.

In 1995, the chairman of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti alerted the world that the secret trial of General Olusegun Obasanjo and others by a Special Military Tribunal had been concluded and that the convicts were being prepared for execution. For leaking such information to the media, the human rights leader was tried in Lagos, jailed for life and deported to Katsina prison. The CD vice chairman, Shehu Sanni, was arrested in Kaduna, jailed for life in Lagos and banished to Kirikiri maximum prison in Apapa. Four journalists viz: Chris Anyanwu, Kunle Ajibade, Charles Mbah and Charles Obi who were convicted for being accessories after the fact of treason i.ethe 1995 phantom coup, were deportedfrom Lagos and kept in separate prisons in the northern states.

In 1996, Chief Fawehinmi SAN was once again deported from Lagos and detained at the Bauchi prison while Femi Aborishade and I were deported from Lagos and held at the Gumel and Mawadashi prisons (in Jigawa State) respectively. Comrade Frank Kokori who was arrested in Lagos was banished to Bama prisons in Borno state for 4 years. General Obasanjo who was convicted in Lagos was deported to Yola prison. His ex-deputy, General Shehu Yaradua was deported from Kaduna, convicted in Lagos and held at various times in Kirikiri, Port Harcourt and Abakaliki prisons.

King Jaja both Chief Abiola and General Yaradua died in suspicious circumstances while they were in custody. But as deportation of colonial subject subjects could not be justified even under colonial rule, it was carried out pursuant to special regulations. In the same vein, the military dictators engaged in deportation of citizens under the preventive detention decrees and the Prison Act.

Deportation of Poor People

It is common knowledge that the beautification project of the Babatunde Fashola Administration has led to the deportation of hundreds of the jetsam and the flotsam from Lagos state to their states of origin. The elite and the media have been celebrating the ban on “Okada” from the major roads and the removal of traders and area boys from the streets. For understandable reasons, most of the hundreds of thousands of poor people who have been displaced and dislodgedin the operation “keep Lagos clean” are of the Yoruba extraction.

In fact, on April 9, 2009, when the Lagos state government deported 129 beggars of Oyo state origin and dumpedthem at molete in Ibadan, the Alao Akala regime alleged that the action was aimed at sabotaging his government. Just last week, some beggars of Osun state origin were also deported by the Lagos state government and dumped at Osogbo.
It is sad to note that most Nigerians never took cognisance of the war beingwaged by state governments against the poor and disadvantaged citizens in the urban renewal policy until the much publicized case of the 14 beggars of Anambra state origin who were deported in Lagos and dumped in Onitsha about three weeks ago. In fact,it was the condemnation of the deportation by the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi that drewthe attention of the elite to the unfortunate development. However, in defence of its action the Lagos State Government stated that it entered into an agreement with the Anambra State Government through its liaison office in Lagos on the controversial deportation.
Although the Anambra State government has not denied the allegation that it was privy to the deportation of the 14 beggars, it is on record that in Decmber 2011 the Peter Obi Administration had deported 29 beggars to their states of origin i.e Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states. Apart from such official hypocrisy, the Peter Obi regime did not deem it fit to protest when the Abia state government purged its civil service of “non-indigenes” in 2012. Many of the victims of the unjust policy who hail from Anambra state were left in the lurch.
In June 2011, the Federal Capital Territory government deported 129 beggars to their respective states of origin. In May 2013, hundreds of beggars were also removed from the streets and expelled from Abuja. Of course, it is common knowledge that the FCT authorities has continued to demolish residential houses without following due process in order to “restore the masterplan of Abuja” which was distorted through corruption and abuse of office. The majority of the victims of such illegal demolitions who are poor have been dislocated and forced out of FCT.
Last week, the Rivers State Government removed 113 Nigerians from the streets of Port Harcourt and deported them to their states of origin. The Akwa Ibom state government has just contacted its Lagos counterpart of the planned deportation of two “mad” Lagosians roaming the streets of Uyo. Many other state governments are busy deporting beggars, mad men and other destitute in the on-going beautification of state capitals. Those who are defending the Igbo beggars outof sheer ethnic irredentism should be advised to examine the socio-economicimplications of the anti-people’s urbanisation policy being implemented by the federal and state governments in the overall interests of the masses.
The Illegality of Internal Deportation
Since deportation has been resuscitated under the current political dispensation it has become pertinent to examine the legal implications of the forceful deportation of a group of citizens on account of their impecunious status. Although street trading and begging have been banned in some states It is submitted, without any fear of contradiction, that there is no existing law in Nigeria which has empowered the federal and state governments to deport any group of Nigerian citizens to their states of origin.
Accordingly, the forceful removal of beggars from their chosen abode and repatriation to their states of origin areillegal and unconstitutional as they violate the fundamental rights of such citizens enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. In particular, deportation is an afront to the human rights of the beggars to dignity of their persons (Section 34), personal liberty (Section 35), freedom of movement (Section 41), and right of residence in any part of Nigeria (Section 43).
Furthermore, the deportation of beggars and other poor people by the Federal and State Governments is a repudiation of section 15 of the Constitution which has imposed a duty on the State to promote national integration. Since the polical objective of the State imposes a duty on the governments to “secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation” it is illegal to remove poor people from the streets of state capitals without providing them with alternative accommodation. By targetting beggars and the destitute and deporting them to their states of origin the state governments involved are violating Section 42 of the Constitution which has outlawed discrimination on the basis of place of birth or state of origin.
In so far as Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 has specifically banned discriminatory treatment on the ground of “social origin, fortune, birth or other status” it is indefensible to subject any group of citizens to harrassment on account of their economic status. An urban renewal policy that has provision for only the rich cannot be justified under Article 13 of the African Charter which provides that every citizen shall have equal access to the public services of the country.

In the celebrated case of the Minister of Internal Affairs v. Alhaji Shugaba Abdulraham Darma (1982) 3 N.C.L.R. 915 the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Borno State High Court which had held that the deportation of the Respondent (Alhaji Shugaba) from Nigeria to Chad by the Federal Government constituted “a violation of his fundamental rights to person liberty, privacy and freedom to move freely throughout Nigeria.” In the Director, State Security Service v. Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (PT 595)314 at 356 the Supreme Court reiterated that “It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives to the Nigerian citizen the right to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in anypart thereof.”

Since deportation has denied the vicctims the fundamental right to movefreely and reside in any state of their choice it is illegal and unconstitutional. It is indubitably clearthat the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and theAfrican Charter Act are not for the exclusive preserve of the bourgeoisie but for the enjoyment of all Nigerian citizens including beggars and other economically marginalised people. To that extent no state governments has the power to deport or enter into agreements to repatriate any group of citizens to their states of origin.

The Socio-economic Challenge of Deportation

It ought to be made clear to the managers of the neo-colonial state that there is no country which promotes social inequality that has successfully outlawed the poor from existence. This explains why beggars are found in large numbers on the streets of major cities and in the ghettos of the United States of America – the bastion of capitalism. The situation is bound to be worse in the periphery of capitalism like Nigeria where the poverty rate has reached an alarming proportion due to the failure of the State to provide for the welfare and security of the people which is the primary purpose of government.

The Federal and State governments should also be made to realize at all times that beggars are Nigerian citizens who lack money, food and other basic facilities to live decent lives. The authorities should stop stigmatizing and harassing them and other citizens who have been pushed to a state of penury by the gross mismanagement of the economy by a selfish and short sighted ruling class. Anation that complaints of inadequate funds to establish a social security scheme for the majority of the people allowed a cartel of fuel importers to corner $16 billion while oil thieves stole crude oil worth $7 billion on the high seas in 2011 alone.

Yet the influential oil thieves and pirates are walking free on the streets of our state capitals without any official harassment. Others who engage in unprecedented corruption, fraud and other financial and economiccrimes have never been deported to their states of origin. It is high time thegovernment was restrained from holding the poor vicariously liable for the crisis of underdevelopment of the country. Therefore, part of the billions of naira being earmarked to build mega cities should be set aside for the rehabilitation of beggars and the destitute.

There is no doubt that Lagos state is put under severe pressure, from time to time, by millions of Nigerians who have been economically displaced in their own states of origin. But unlike its counterparts the Lagos state government has devised effective strategies to compel the rich to pay taxes through their noses. In addition the monthly statutory allocation of the state from the federation account is partly based on its population. In the circumstance, the Lagos state government should take from the rich to service the poor. As in the case of most of the “area boys” who have been productively engaged by the Fashola Administration the Lagos state government should formulate programmes for the rehabilitation and resettlement of beggars and other destitute to make them contribute to the economy of the state.

Conclusion

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961 the United States President, Mr. J.F. Kennedy warned that “if a free society cannot help the many who are poor it cannot save the few who are rich”. About 40 years later, those cautionary words resonated in the caseof Hoffman v. South African Airways (2001) CHR 329 at 354 where Justice Ngcobo of the Constitutional Court of South Africa stated that “Our Constitution protects the weak, the marginalized, the socially outcast and the victims of prejudice and stereotyping. It is only when these groups are protected that we can be secure that our own rights are protected.”
With respect to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that have continued to pauperise our people i am compelled to remind the ruling class in Nigeria of the plea made by the Late Dr.Akinola Aguda in 1985 that “our new perspective in law and justice must be such as to guarantee to each of our people food, drink, lodging, clothing, education and employment in addition to the rights guaranteed to him so far by our Constitution and our laws, so that justice may mean the same thing to everyone.”

Finally, since the deporting state governments have no immigration officials to police their borders there is no assurance that the deportees will not find their way back to where they were deported. However in view of the illegality of the deportation of poor people the governments of the federal capital territory and the respective states are advised to stop it without any further delay. If the practice is not discontinued the deporting state governments should be prepared to defend their action in Court. Sooner than later.


FEMI FALANA, SAN

source: http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/142593-the-lagos-deportation-and-the-law-by-femi-falana.html

space booked.

all this long epistle just to support the stvpidity of one governor, so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

gidson12: all this long epistle just to support the stvpidity of one governor, so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

Your intellectual indolence is one of a kind. You read the first few paragraphs and immediately arrived at a definitive conclusion. Bravo!

gidson12: all this long epistle just to support the stvpidity of one governor several (according to what's stated up there), so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

Try to take your time and read posts/passages/write-ups carefully before tapping the reply button. If you can't then don't .
You were so eager to call the "writer" a "crazy" man when in actual fact you didn't even understand anything he wrote.

Well, better late than never. His integrity was already in doubt when he joined the Amaechi circus show. Maybe, just maybe, this intervention would buy him some redemption.

I am satisfied with how he managed to 'de-tribalise' the issue and address it squarely from a legal and socio-political point of view. Like many of the dolts supporting Fashola's action, he cited 'precedents' for the deportation, but unlike those dolts, he did not use such precedents to justify Fashola's senseless action. Rather, he sought to use them as neutralising, if not equalising devices to water down any ethnic coloration there might have been to the action.

I am also particularly happy that he recognised the anti-poor leaning of the Fashola administration in Lagos. The following sentence succintly captures my thoughts:

It is high time the government was restrained from holding the poor vicariously liable for the crisis of underdevelopment of the country.

Someone needs to blare this message into Fashola's ears until he goes deaf.

gidson12: all this long epistle just to support the stupidity of one governor, so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

You should be patient while reading contributions or topics on NL or else I recommend you for the next batch of deporrtees on NL.
Having said that, I think the action of Fashola is both legally and morally wrong. This write - up is an eye- opener to the war the rich - thieves wage on innocent, honest nigerians marooned to poverty island.
However, I can't stop wondering why a part of nigeria make begging a religious duty, a trade initiated into as Alimajiris teaching innocent children the act of laziness and poor self worth. This stupid religious practice, has ill - affected part of yorubaland where islam is predominant. I have never seen an igbo man begging, from one street to another (may be I have not travelled far enough to see one). Igbo people are hard-working home and abroad.
I would like Femi Falana and other human right activists to rise up, as usual to go a step further by taking a legal action against Fasola and his evil cohorts. Any nigerian should live, work, and fare freely in any part of the country as spelt out by law. We do not want an elitist Boko Haram in yorubaland. Rauf aregbesola and Ishaq Ajimobi themselves muslims should emulate their Ondo and Ekiti counterparts to start re - orietating their citizens on the issue of street begging.

Mighty Sparrow:

You should be patient while reading contributions or topics on NL or else I recommend you for the next batch of deporrtees on NL.
Having said that, I think the action of Fashola is both legally and morally wrong. This write - up is an eye- opener to the war the rich - thieves wage on innocent, honest nigerians marooned to poverty island.
However, I can't stop wondering why a part of nigeria make begging a religious duty, a trade initiated into as Alimajiris teaching innocent children the act of laziness and poor self worth. This stupid religious practice, has ill - affected part of yorubaland where islam is predominant. I have never seen an igbo man begging, from one street to another (may be I have not travelled far enough to see one). Igbo people are hard-working home and abroad.
I would like Femi Falana and other human right activists to rise up, as usual to go a step further by taking a legal action against Fasola and his evil cohorts. Any nigerian should live, work, and fare freely in any part of the country as spelt out by law. We do not want an elitist Boko Haram in yorubaland. Rauf aregbesola and Ishaq Ajimobi themselves muslims should emulate their Ondo and Ekiti counterparts to start re - orietating their citizens on the issue of street begging.

Fashola's actions may be morally wrong, but he will win in any court of law. Like many Nigerians, you live under the illusion of what you think the constitution offers you, as opposed to what it actually says. There is a reason the FG tags you by your state of origin, regardless of where you were born. Its also the reason I am not generally a fan of the Nigerian project, becasue if you start to read through its documents, you realize it not a real entity, just a noble idea we are trying to make work.

As for Falana, I respect him, but this article was laughable. He got "deported" to Kuje? Thats like saying I got deported to Calabar to do my NYSC. This is overabuse of the word, and it just means Falana assumes his reader's intelligence cannot sift through this trickery. Whats next - parents deporting their children to universities in other states?

But unlike its counterparts the Lagos state government has devised effective strategies to compel the rich to pay taxes through their noses. In addition the monthly statutory allocation of the state from the federation account is partly based on its population. In the circumstance, the Lagos state government should take from the rich to service the poor.

Spoken like a true "activist". Proclaim some bird brained ideal, and leave it to administrators to work it out

gidson12: all this long epistle just to support the stvpidity of one governor, so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

so falana has been able to hide his taught for you by writing it down? I must confess that u are very lazy. lf he is in support of the deportation why will he treaten the governor with court action if he failed to stop. ln my own opinion i think he wrote like a nigerian and not as a yoruba man something we should all learn to do.

Birdman and Gidson12 I appreciate your contributions. I stumbled on this article at night and tried to copy it for NLanders debate to find out that someone of like mind had done the job. I was angered by Fashola's action at first but with your comments I am having a rethink b/c I personally like Fashola for his reforms. I respect Falana for his sacrifice and courage all this years in his activities for the defence of human rights.
I personally, however, do not agree with deportation of nigerians within the nation or the institution of street begging any form of nuisance especially area boys stuff and street beggars. I would not say also that Fashola should use taxes of his people to take care of citizens from other states whose governments are clueless about the welfare of their own citizens.
My comment on begging: I am aware tha Fayemi pays #5000 a month to senior citizens of Ekiti state, Osun and Oyo should help us rid motor parks of the people that beg in these places. I honestly feel ashamed to see mad people walking our streets naked when we can keep them somewhere and cater for them. Or, people begging on our streets especially whether nigerians or people from niger. I am sadder to see my own people from yorubaland copying the northern beggars and constituting nuisance to the society. It is even more shameful that another brother - fashola (or any other) would deport his own people because they are nuisance not necessarily because of poverty. I remember walking the street of Lagos several years after NYSC no one would deport me because of lack of job but in asituation where street begging is institutionlized, it is a shame on the governors of such states whose citizens are compelled to be beggars most especially if they are yorubas.

It is obvious that Femi Falana is an Educated illiterate....he does not know the meaning of DEPORTATION, citing King Jaja case as deportation, is King Jaja from West Indies, He also called his fellow human being FLOTSAM and JETSAM, just because he got free Education from AWO, Yoruba ppl cannot stop to amaze me.

Birdman and Gidson12 I appreciate your contributions. I stumbled on this article at night and tried to copy it for NLanders debate to find out that someone of like mind had done the job. I was angered by Fashola's action at first but with your comments I am having a rethink b/c I personally like Fashola for his reforms. I respect Falana for his sacrifice and courage all this years in his activities for the defence of human rights.
I personally, however, do not agree with deportation of nigerians within the nation or the institution of street begging any form of nuisance especially area boys stuff and street beggars. I would not say also that Fashola should use taxes of his people to take care of citizens from other states whose governments are clueless about the welfare of their own citizens.
My comment on begging: I am aware tha Fayemi pays #5000 a month to senior citizens of Ekiti state, Osun and Oyo should help us rid motor parks of the people that beg in these places. I honestly feel ashamed to see mad people walking our streets naked when we can keep them somewhere and cater for them. Or, people begging on our streets especially whether nigerians or people from niger. I am sadder to see my own people from yorubaland copying the northern beggars and constituting nuisance to the society. It is even more shameful that another brother - fashola (or any other) would deport his own people because they are nuisance not necessarily because of poverty. I remember walking the street of Lagos several years after NYSC no one would deport me because of lack of job but in asituation where street begging is institutionlized, it is a shame on the governors of such states whose citizens are compelled to be beggars most especially if they are yorubas.

This a nice piece from Femi Falana. He had words for everyone in govt including Peter Obi whom he accused of hypocrisy. His final conclusion is that all these deportations should cease henceforth lest there will be litigations.

However I'm of the opinion that he demand all previous deportations be reversed. He mustn't wait for another deportation before he takes it to court.

gidson12: all this long epistle just to support the stvpidity of one governor, so this crazy writer just dugged out some foolish acts of people in history just to justify the deportation of citizens within a country......God help us

Are the easterners programmed to be daft.am sure if jesus comes down from heaven to explain the real situation of the deportation saga to this androids,they still wont listen,damn these peoples brain is always in default mode