Deportation: 10-Year-old Nigerian girl attempts suicide in Britain
From Tunde Oyedoyin, London

A 10-year-old Nigerian girl, Adeoti Ogunsola, described as "charming," by her head teacher, attempted taking her life last on Sunday, as Immigration officials were making plans to deport her and her mother from Britain for the second time this year.



http://odili.net/news/source/2009/oct/25/13.html

A couple of months ago, Miss Ogunsola, a pupil at the St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, Gillingham, Kent, was detained at the Yarl's Wood immigration centre in Bedfordshire, before being released.

According to Friday's edition of the London Evening Standard, which featured the story, the 10-year old made the attempt on her life at the Tinsley House Immigration removal centre at Gatwick airport, where she was detained alongside her mother, Clementina, who was asleep at the time.

The paper also disclosed that Ogunsola, who was taken from the custody of her aunt and brought to the removal centre on October 15, eventually won a last minute legal battle on Thursday, when a High Court Judge stopped the family's deportation.

However, both mother and daughter had been returned to detention, pending a judicial review next Wednesday.

Though the paper didn't make it clear why Miss Ogunsola attempted the suicide, quoting a child psychotherapist's report, it stated that the girl's "mental state would deteriorate if she was detained again and she might attempt (again) to kill herself."

But lobbyists, including Bernadette Long, the head teacher of her school, had campaigned that the pair should be allowed to remain in the country.

"Adeoti is a charming, friendly, and intelligent little girl. She is passionate about her education and hopes to become a doctor," Long said, in a glowing testimony.

But she noted that the detentions had started to take their toll on the aspiring doctor.

"Her recent experiences while being detained have impacted on her and she has become very anxious about what will happen if she goes to Nigeria," Long said.

However, the UK Border Agency doesn't seem to give a hoot about the girl's condition. David Wood, on behalf of the Agency said:

"When the independent courts find a family has no need for protection, we expect them to return home.

"If they refuse to leave, we have no choice but to enforce their removal and this can include detaining children, but only as a last resort."

YIKES!!! wey the papa??

Is my country such a hell hole that the girl opted for suicide than come back home?

She attempted suicide because she was tired of being in detention. 
Her mother should stop putting her through all this unnecessary stress.

Nigerian hell hole? Didn't  the article opined that it wasn't clear why she attempted suicide?


Another negatively loaded alarmist thread designed to needlessly trash and smear.


What else is new? Negative Calvary is on patrol.

Don't sweat yet; Nobody is trashing Fashola. If trashing your country will make the govt wake up, I will not relent from doing it incessantly.

Nigeria na hell hole. Poor girl.

Trashing your country based on genuine grievance is one thing, sensationalism and deceptively twisting news articles and manufacturing your own side story just to needlessly trash your own country is another.

It's called dishonesty and flawed sense of judgment.

Roflmao!!!! Talk of Kettle calling Pot black !!!!

;d

babapupa:

Nigerian hell hole? Didn't the article opined that it wasn't clear why she attempted suicide?


Another negatively loaded alarmist thread designed to needlessly trash and smear.


What else is new? Negative Calvary is on patrol.

But it is not unconnected with the intention to deport her to Nigeria. Thus, We all know the reason.

Wetin concern me for there,let her do her worst.Naija for life

But it is not unconnected with the intention to deport her to Nigeria. Thus, We all know the reason.

You just arrived at and manufactured your own conclusion, you don't know why and the article clearly stated that they don't know why she attempted suicide.

Abi NL folks have access to her brain?

May be she don't wanna leave her friends, her school or even live with her mother. You just don't know. Are you in her head or have you interviewed her? The article didn't say anything about her disliking or hating Nigeria.

And the thread starter clearly stated his intentions which is to bash naija by any means necessary hence the manufactured conclusion and bogus title.


Drawing your own conclusions and overreaching beyond what's in the news article doesn't mean you're right or your facts are straight.

When claustrophobic people are locked up in small spaces for extended periods, they tend to want to take their own lives.

What exactly has Nigeria to do with this?

She's a very troubled child . . and a spoilt brat!

Why shame on Nigeria?
they probably trained her to dramatize like that.

When claustophobic people WHAT?? Dude, no need to MAKE UP STUFF about people you have no understanding of. I happen to HATE being in tight spaces and hate HEIGHTS. That don't make me suicidal. And seriously never heard of suicide attributed to fear of being packed in a tight space. gob!! People who are afraid of small spaces(especially cause they feel they would DIE IN THERE) are not suicidal. And I didn't know detention centers has TINY SPACES for detainees.

did she sincerely attempt suicide, or could this be a cynical and calculated attempt at (prompted by her mother) to gain public sympathy and asylum?

misleading thread title, very deceptive thread and of course the usual 419 OP.

The girl said her two brothers were killed by a Nigerian cult in Nigeria, hence she doesnt want to go back home because she feels this cult is targetting her family.


although of course this cult can also get her abroad if they're so inclined. With her suicidal fears, they've gotten her already.

I've addressed this matter on another thread but of course aloy emeka and his ilk would never let an opportunity like this pass them by.

jay bee:

Why shame on Nigeria?
they probably trained her to dramatize like that.

My thoughts exactly. The parents must have told her to act like so to avoid being deported.

What is deceptive about the title?. Should children be afraid to go home in a country where things work very well including security?. This little girl is scared to hell about going back to Nigeria and thats what it is.

oyb:

did she sincerely attempt suicide, or could this be a cynical and calculated attempt at (prompted by her mother) to gain public sympathy and asylum?

Could be. Nigerians can perform wonders.

Aloy~Emeka:

What is deceptive about the title?. Should children be afraid to go home in a country where things work very well including security?. This little girl is scared to hell about going back to Nigeria and thats what it is.

who killed her two brothers?

wasnt it people like you?

stop trying to trivialize her situation.

I do not have time to engage in meaningless discourse this morning. If people like me killed her brothers, it doesn't make them any less Nigerians. The bone of contention here is whether Nigeria is a hell hole or not.

If it is the case that two of her own brothers were killed by people IN NIGERIA, and you accept that she probably fears the same monsters might come after her as well. Does it then not make sense to ASSUME that she the gal tried to commit suicide out of fear that if deported back to Nigeria, the monsters will get her? Isn’t this saying the same thing the title does in this case?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/21/detained-nigerian-girl-strangle-immigration

A 10-year-old Nigerian girl placed in immigration detention for a second time – despite warnings from experts that she might try to kill herself if she was incarcerated again – has been found trying to strangle herself.


Adeoti Ogunsola was spotted by guards at Tinsley House immigration removal centre (IRC) near Gatwick airport early on Sunday in the kitchen of the family quarters. The family's asylum claim has been refused and they are facing removal to Nigeria on Thursday.

Adeoti told the guards she would rather die in England than in Nigeria, where she believes her life will be at risk if she is returned. Her mother, Clementina Ogunsola, 35, whom she was sharing a room with, was asleep at the time. Mother and daughter were taken to hospital and later returned to Tinsley House.

"Adeoti is in a very bad state," said Clementina. "It's terrible to see her like this. She's crying a lot and has completely broken down."

The case comes at a time when there is mounting opposition to the government's policy of detaining child asylum seekers.

The Ogunsolas were detained in Yarl's Wood IRC in June and were later released. A report from a psychotherapist warned that Adeoti was suffering from complex post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of being detained and warned that if she was detained again her condition was so severe that she might attempt to kill herself.

Clementina was detained again in August but refused to reveal the whereabouts of Adeoti to prevent her being redetained. It later emerged that she was in the care of an aunt and for a while social services and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) allowed this arrangement to stand.

However, early last Thursday UKBA officials raided the aunt's home and dragged out a screaming Adeoti. Social services were present but Adeoti's aunt was not allowed to accompany her. A distressed Adeoti was reunited with her mother in Tinsley House and tried to kill herself three days later.

In a letter to the family's solicitors, UKBA officials said the circumstances were exceptional. The letter is dated 17 October and was sent hours before Adeoti made the suicide attempt. It quotes Dr Geraint Thomas, who acknowledged Adeoti's distress.

"Whilst aware of the potential for suicidal feelings that she may act upon we are maintaining close observations of her and believe we are able to safely maintain her within this environment," Thomas states in the UKBA letter.

Adeoti is a pupil at St Mary's Catholic primary school in Gillingham, Kent. The headteacher, Bernadette Long, is supporting the family's fight to remain in the UK.

She said Adeoti was "clearly traumatised" by her detention in June. "She was inconsolable about the thought of deportation in September 2008 when she first heard of it," said Long. "Since then Adeoti has had unsettled periods due to the worry and uncertainty. This has gone on for a whole year now and is an unnecessary act of mental cruelty which is affecting her emotional and mental wellbeing."

There have been many campaigns to end the detention of children in the UK, which currently occurs at a rate of 2,000 a year. Labour MP Chris Mullin is sponsoring an early day motion urging the government to adopt more humane arrangements for monitoring children whom UKBA wishes to remove from the country.

David Wood, strategic director of UKBA's criminality and detention group, said: "Treating children with care and compassion is a priority for the UK Border Agency.

"Whenever we take decisions involving children, their welfare comes first. That's why we have transformed our children's policy, ensuring in law a commitment to protect youngsters and keep them safe from harm. Their welfare is regularly monitored and medical staff are on site and their detention is reviewed.

"When the independent courts find a family has no need for protection we expect them to return home. If they refuse to leave voluntarily we have no choice but to enforce their removal, and this can include detaining children, but only as a very last resort."

Frank Arnold, clinical director of the Medical Justice Network, said: "The evidence is that this girl was redetained by UKBA against expert advice and retraumatised, causing severe harm. Our independent doctors have seen more than 20 children whose purely administrative detention has damaged them beyond any reasonable justification. The abusive jailing of innocent children should cease."

Clementina and Adeoti fear that if they return to Nigeria their lives will be at risk from a cult which allegedly killed two of Clementina's brothers. They are also concerned that Adeoti will be at risk of female genital mutilation from family members, which Clementina was forced to undergo.

The family's lawyers are seeking a stay of the removal

the claims are BS - the mother is 35 - how old would these two sons that were 'killed by cult members' have been?'

then the dubious FGM claims

its just another i must escape from Nigeria scam that will wind up making nigerians look even more dubious -

@Kobojunkie

like you said earlier, you didn't know. Simple.

Kobojunkie:

If it is the case that two of her own brothers were killed by people IN NIGERIA, and you accept that she probably fears the same monsters might come after her as well. Does it then not make sense to ASSUME that she the gal tried to commit suicide out of fear that if deported back to Nigeria, the monsters will get her? Isn’t this saying the same thing the title does in this case?

what aloy emeka and the usual NLers are trying to make it look like is the girl opted to kill herself rather than experience poor electricity, no running water, bad roads, etc. In short, that the girl is suicidal because of bad amenities in Nigeria.

However, she said her two brothers were killed by a Nigerian cult. That statement needs to be considered in her case.

Does she have two brothers who really died under mysterious circumstances? I dont think she'd lie about something like that. If she is, then I'll go with what the rest of you are saying.

oyb:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/21/detained-nigerian-girl-strangle-immigration


the claims are BS - the mother is 35 - how old would these two sons that were 'killed by cult members' have been?'

then the dubious FGM claims

its just another i must escape from Nigeria scam that will wind up making nigerians look even more dubious -

the girl is young, thats why she's processing information in this manner.

Her mother may have a better grip of things.

The FGM allegation is the only weird thing here- they're just desperate not to go home, I guess.

However, even within Nigeria itself there are countless people who never visit their villages out of fear.

Generational hostilities and all that.

@Oyb, what has the age of the mother to do with the story? You mean it is not possible for a woman of that age to have 3 or more kids or something? I really don't get the rationale behind your post there.

Also, aren't we assuming this Adeoti woman is an educated woman?

Kobojunkie:

@Oyb, what has the age of the mother to do with the story? You mean it is not possible for a woman of that age to have 3 or more kids or something? I really don't get the rationale behind your post there.

Also, aren't we assuming this Adeoti woman is an educated woman?

We Nigerians have a way of looking for any reason to remain in denial. Bottom line is that this girl and her family loathes Nigeria and I am 99% sure its because of living standards and not any cult or FGM. I wouldn't be surprised like OYB said if she staged the suicide attempt.