Woman jailed over son's return


Published on Mon Feb 14 18:28:47 GMT 2011

An east London woman has been jailed for eight months for her "flagrant breach" of a High Court order to co-operate with the return of her teenage son from Nigeria.

Lydia Erhire, of Newham, is believed to be the first person to be jailed in the UK for breaking the terms of a Forced Marriage Protection Order.

Her 17-year-old son, Edirin Onogeta-Idogun, was made the subject of the order in July and provided with emergency accommodation but then went on holiday to Nigeria, where his father, John Idogun, is a special adviser to the governor of Delta State.

When Edirin failed to return in early August to start college in Hackney, he was made a ward of court and his mother and father were ordered to return him to the jurisdiction.

Mrs Justice Macur, who sentenced Mrs Erhire for her contempt of court, said that information had been received from Edirin that he had been "forced or subjected to procedures which were meant to exorcise him from his disobedience to the will of his parents and to remove him from what they regarded to be unsatisfactory friendships".

In November, after a hearing before another judge, Mrs Erhire signed a letter instructing her sister to facilitate the return of Edirin from his Nigerian boarding school.

But it later emerged that she had immediately sent another letter countermanding this instruction.

In February, Edirin attempted to leave Nigeria but was intercepted by immigration officials and taken off his flight from Lagos.

Mrs Justice Macur, in London, said she had not found Mrs Erhire responsible for the February incident but had found she was complicit in November in "thwarting" the court's efforts to have Edirin returned.

She ordered that Mrs Erhire should be committed to Holloway Prison immediately for eight months, but said she would have the opportunity to apply to purge her contempt.

http://www.gallowaygazette.co.uk/news/woman_jailed_over_son_s_return_1_1454238

So I can't send my own child home again

Hmmn.

hmmmm

Depending on the circumstances

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I agree you have to live by the rules of wherever you find yourself; however, I would probably do exactly what the mother has done. He most definitely wasn’t sent to Nigeria to be forcefully married off (I believe it says somewhere he is in boarding school) and it is unlikely his life is in any danger. It’s very sad to read about what teenagers get up to in this country and most disheartening is reading the names of these children after they’ve been arrested/convicted etc and finding out they are of Nigerian descent. I have seen children sent back to Nigeria after mixing with the wrong crowd here and coming back better off and appreciating what they have more than before. It is obviously not a magic cure but a parent will at least try.

Well done to his mom for ensuring he doesn’t become another statistic and at least giving him a shot at life. Hopefully he will look back someday and thank his mom for making such a sacrifice for him. These days I look back on life with my disciplinarian mom and I bless her …

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