Detention and strip-searching of Nigerian priest [b][/b]


Envoy intervenes to secure release of Nigerian priest

Fr John Achebe: strip-searched and placed in prison cellRONAN McGREEVYA NIGERIAN Catholic priest who was arrested at Dublin airport and put in jail on suspicion of trying to enter the country illegally was only released following the intervention of the Nigerian ambassador.

Fr John Achebe (33), a parish priest in the central Nigerian city of Onitsha, was stopped by officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) after arriving on a flight from Istanbul on Tuesday. He was wearing his clerical garb at the time.

He was taken to Cloverhill Prison, strip-searched and placed in a cell for the night with four other inmates. He was released the following day when the Nigerian ambassador, Mandu Ekong-Omaghomi, intervened with immigration officials and gave guarantees on his behalf.

Nigerian embassy spokesman John Ishaye said immigration officials should have checked with the embassy before sending him to jail. “We could have told them he was a reverend father and a man of certain standing,” he said.

Fr Achebe arrived in Ireland on a tourist visa. He was due to visit his relative, Dr Chinwednu Udegbe, who is a psychiatrist at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

It is understood that immigration officials became suspicious when Fr Achebe said initially that he was a brother and then a cousin of Dr Udegbe, the terms having a wider meaning in Nigerian culture than they would have here. The pair are distant cousins.

He was refused permission to land on the grounds that the reasons he gave for entering the State were false.

Fr Achebe was told on Wednesday that he would be taken to Dublin airport for deportation, but when he arrived at the airport he was, instead, told to report to the immigration bureau on September 30th, the day he was due to leave in any case. Gardaí also kept his passport.

Nobody from the GNIB was available for comment yesterday evening, but in a letter to Fr Achebe’s solicitor Gerry Cullen, the bureau said Fr Achebe was “lawfully and appropriately refused permission” and his release was “an entirely exceptional circumstance done as a gesture of goodwill to the ambassador” and to Fr Achebe.

Fr Achebe declined to comment yesterday, but Dr Udegbe said it had been a humiliating experience for him.

“The pain that he has is that he was made to take away all his clothes before the other four inmates of his room and the other warders around. He said that nobody had seen his unclothedness since he became an adult. This man does not like violence in any form. This is a huge embarrassment to him.”

Fr Gerry Kane, who has been given pastoral care of foreign nationals by the Archdiocese of Dublin, said the arrest and detention of visitors like Fr Achebe is a regular occurrence. “The system needs to be both robust and just, but, what this case illustrates, is that this has not been achieved.

“Can you imagine what it would be like to turn up to visit relatives in America or Australia with all your papers in order and you are put in prison? It is a frightening experience,” he said.

Mr Cullen said flaws in the 2004 Immigration Act allowed the State to detain visitors from certain countries at will. “To my mind, it is a denial of fundamental rights, it is a denial of constitutional justice,” he said. “The law states that the immigration officer may refuse to give permission to land if the officer is satisfied on certain grounds, but the question is how is this officer satisfied?”


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0913/1221235786238.html

It is understood that immigration officials became suspicious when Fr Achebe said initially that he was a brother and then a cousin of Dr Udegbe, the terms having a wider meaning in Nigerian culture than they would have here. The pair are distant cousins.

thats comedy of culture.

honestly, Nigerians travelling abroad needs to be coached on what to say and not say.

That was done because he is african, i think afro immigration should borrow a leaf from their european and american counterparts. Detain any white on a slightest mistake, put them inside the most dirtiest prison around. I think when they travel back and tell their ordeal their immigration will slow a bit when they see afro passport.

Somebody posted a topic here that they denied Bill Gate Nigerian Visa on the ground of a mistake on his form, most of you including those that posted above called the action a stupid one but will be very happy to say the priest lied. For the Bill Gate made a mistake(Whiteman) but the priest Lied(Blackman)

Siena:

Another reason why it's best to be upfront and transparent.

Why would he lie, that his distant cousin was his brother?

A lying priest setting a bad example.

I dont see it as lying per se, it's more of a cultural thing, nigerians and perhaps africans are likely to address relatives,friends and so on as brothers,cousins and so on even though they are not related

Nothing wrong in saying that your cousin,uncle or even nephew is your BROTHER.its a norm in the nigerian society.
@jenni81 lol,spot on !

Siena:

Another reason why it's best to be upfront and transparent.

Why would he lie, that his distant cousin was his brother?

A lying priest setting a bad example.

Lying Priest? Oh Pleaaaase, you probably know little about the African or Nigerian culture.

jenni81:

That was done because he is african, i think afro immigration should borrow a leaf from their european and american counterparts. Detain any white on a slightest mistake, put them inside the most dirtiest prison around. I think when they travel back and tell their ordeal their immigration will slow a bit when they see afro passport.

Somebody posted a topic here that they denied Bill Gate Nigerian Visa on the ground of a mistake on his form, most of you including those that posted above called the action a stupid one but will be very happy to say the priest lied. For the Bill Gate made a mistake(Whiteman) but the priest Lied(Blackman)

Well said!

I never knew that this story has come to nairaland too.

@ Seina,
Your response to this topic really opened my eyes on how people treat issues raised on nairaland.

Fr. John Achebe is my elder brother  yes, my elder brother, same mother same father and the press didt not report the story accurately.

But even if the press version is accurate your response really is pointless.

Lying priest you called him, but have you asked yourself why he would lie about his distant cousin being his brother?  People lie because they expect the lie to help them with something.

Lie So that he will enter Ireland for a 3 weeks leave? Come on!

Let me make it clear to you right now that entering Ireland cannot mean the world to him. Hes way bigger than that. I cannot start giving you details here. Google his name and you will understand what I'm saying.    I suspect that your reason for calling him a lying priest is not because of the press report but because he is  just a priest. 

If he is a lying priest, the ambassador shouldnt have gotten involved and they wouldnt have allowed him in at last and the country's immigration chief wouldnt have done things that I cannot tell you here just to make him not take things up.


People (non catholics mainly) hate priests these days and thats probably why the immigration officer did what he did.
Today he is paying dearly for it.

Sometimes when you are replying to a post in nairaland, get your facts together.

:-x

LondonCool wrote:

, I think he was trying to be smart, nothing cultural there.

, Whereas the Igbo person could fall into the same trap, the same can not be generalised for Nigerians from other ethnic groupings


You have not tried to find out the relationship he has with the person he is visiting before making your comments and besides, He is an Igbo man. A priest Igbo man who can easily call anyone a 'brother' let alone a person who is related to him.

@Siena,
can you tell me at what point does an incorrect statement constitute a lie?

When u said 'deliberate lie', it appears to me that you are suggesting that some lies are not deliberate.

And remember, you didnt call him 'an unconscious lying priest'. You called him a lying priest.

You know all that and you still think he lied.

See, a lie can only be a lie. Theres nothing like a deliberate lie.

A lie is meant to deceive. Thats just the difference between a lie and an incorrect statement. A deliberate misrepresenation like you also mentioned constitutes a lie.

But I wish to make it clear that what he told the officer is none of that.

Do you believe that if he wanted to lie about his relationship with his host that he couldnt have come up with a very good lie well planned with the host?

The fact is that he isnt lying and believe me, if you are an Igbo man, there are some relationships that neither, brother, cousin or even friend can describe.

If what you were suggesting was that he should have told them that the host is a friend, then what you are saying is that he should lie because the relationship with the host is not friendship.

When you tell me sorry, you are only affirming your position that the reason why im defending him is because he is my brother.

Since that event, many people who are not his brothers have defended him.

Im only taking you up because you called him a lying priest. That is very misleading. Thats all.
I dont have to tell you how the whole conversation with him and the officer went but I think its very wrong for anyone to make strong statements on things they hadnt proved.

If your point had been that its his fault because he should have said so so and so things, I should not have replied you.

Its important to point out here that apart from 'meaning business', those guys are racist and more. To the extent that even after confirming that he is a priest and not an outlaw, they still said nasty things to him.

The problem we have here in Nigeria is that many people leaving our shores are doing so under false pretence and people find it hard to that people with genuine reasons have problems with immigrations.

I think he purposely said what he said although he might have been ignorant of the legal implications. I mostly say its the preists fault because you have to plan for these things especially when you know the Immigration officers ask random questions.

what time does a priest have to learn legal palava just for a visit?

many people have been denied entry but making him strip is over the top
its not the biggest offence is it? cousin/brother/relative, what happened to checking with the host?

He got stripped because he did not have that time. Am not saying  he deserved it but because of whats been happening lately, Nigerian travellers need to be very careful. I think its because of the discrepancy between what he said and what the host said that caused him to be so treated.

shotster50:

He got stripped because he did not have that time. Am not saying  he deserved it but because of whats been happening lately, Nigerian travellers need to be very careful. I think its because of the discrepancy between what he said and what the host said that caused him to be so treated.

Please, shotster50,
Can you tell me what you mean by 'he did not have that time'?

what discrepancy are you referring to.
Did you know anything about what the host said or you have just assumed again like you have been doing in your previous posts.

Lol @ Biggjoe, I am not getting into arguments over this with anybody.
You are asking what I meant by he did not have that time, right? the guy before said and I quote, ''what time does a priest have to learn legal palava just for a visit?''. I have witnessed these things happen to a lot of us at the immigration because we do not see it as a problem. We can do this back and forth but the lesson from this is that you have to know what to say to immigration and make sure it backed up otherwise the consequences would be severe as in this case.
Personally, i think they took it too far by strip searching him.

@Shortster50,
I am trying as much as I can not to argue senselessly with anyone on these issues because people are working on assumptions and press reports which are both far from the truth.

Whatever I have posted so far on this thread is simply trying to follow people's assumptions to a logical reasoning not to prove what happened. The vital part of that case which was not reported accurately by the press because they are only reporting the officials' version of the matter when they cannot get any interview from my brother after days of trying desperately.

With siena I just tried to prove to him that even if He told the officials that he is the 'brother' to the host, it doesnt necessarily mean that he did it as a lie. It might just be a case of not being able to find the right words for the relationship with the host.
So my point on that one is that even if he told them that out of not being able to define the relationship with the host, it should not necessarily be enough reason why anyone should call him 'a lying priest' priest because, a lie is meant to deceive.

However, I can assure anyone here that the issue of 'brother' did not arise at all on that fateful day. It was their only way out of their mess up. Which they have been doing without questions for long.

They did not tell the press that they as well detained a couple in their '70s along with my brother. Did the old man and his wife also tell them that some is his brother? People I wan make una know say no be only Nigerians sabi lie, Oyibo wicked too. Even though siena said that 'they mean business'

If you read a follow up to that case you might want to ask yourself why the Irish immigration will not only decide not to deport him on that day but as well cancel the 'refusal to land' stamp on his passport and also stamped an extension for him to stay up till the end of the year.

Do you think that they will just do all of that simply because they have realized that he is a priest.

I want you to know that that single case have opened a can of worm of many human right abuse that has been going on there.

Many Nigerians and other foreigners will regain their freedom as a result of that single incident that happened to Rev. Fr. John Achebe, who, some nairaland members here have chosen to label a lying priest.

Nothing happens for nothing.

I just noticed that the Moderator, have deleted his posts on this thread.

Does that Mean that he has realized that he has been erring? If so I will ask him that it is ok to realize that he made a big mistake by labelling Fr. Achebe a lying priest because of some article he read on the internet.

However, I don't think that deleting the posts are enough.
He said that he is a catholic as well and if that is true, I will recommend a confession as well for him because for we catholics, its very uncool to say bad things about your priests especially when you cannot prove the offence.