₦airaland Forum

Point out what I should understand. The whole story doesn't add up 'cause no government taxes what has already been taxed.

If a taxpayer buys something from a business, the business is still taxed in that sale.

If a taxpayer donates to a church which is registered as a UK charity, then that church is exempt from tax in the basis that it is a charity

Uk charities can also claim back 25% of all donations from the government.

There are strict guidelines set by the UK charity Commission and this church is in clear breach of those terms. They have evaded paying tax by registering as a charity when they have been sending money to other countries and buying personal property which is a breach of the guidelines

Do they tax churches in the UK? Since the church received donations from citizens who have been already taxed, what's wrong in sending money to other branches of the church to either Nigeria or some other country? Would that be classified as money laundering? I really need to know what their financial laws are when dealing with 'Not for Profit organisation' in which churches should fall into?

If a church registers as a charity then strict guidelines should be followed and they do not pay tax... they can also claim back tax from from anyone who has donated. Also sending money outside the UK to other accounts is against UK charity Commission guidelines.

The ‘Fraud’ here is that they are clearly operating as a business and have not paid the taxes required by law on all the money they have received.

Fake news. Why would Omotola be honoured when she has never appeared in a Hollywood production or even been nominated for a Grammy.
They didn’t expect invite chiwetel ejiofor who has been Nominated or even other African stars like lupita but Na only Omotola they see ... please!

Absolute stupidity.

Most ‘foreigners’ who come to Nigeria to contribute to the economy are actually returnees or children of Nigerians in the diaspora. These extra fees will be a huge deterrent to those wanting my to invest.

How much is the rent per annum?

The rabbit is going to the river not the elephants.

Each elephant saw the same two monkeys going to the river

1 rabbit
2 monkeys

1+2 = 3

ans is 3

Parrots are birds not animals so they do not count

Touchey:
all the same she still rides on a $600k rocking horse

Well Jay Z and Beyoncé are not the brightest tools in the box. You have a former uneducated drug dealer and a woman who didn't graduate from high school and can barely string a sentence together. I pity anyone who would use these two as shining examples of how to be parent.

I doubt they bought it anyway and if they did you can it will not be a surprise when the file for bankruptcy in about 10 years or so.

Touchey:
Jay z daughter's rocking horse is worth $600,000 what do you say about that?

Just because the media tells you that the rocking horse cost $600k it doesn't mean Jay Z and Beyoncé used their money to buy. Remember what I said about the rich staying rich and the poor remaining poor?

A lesson for you in 'Celebrity'. Most of all the bling you see them flaunting I.e gold iPhones, gold MacBooks, designer wear, jewellery, $500k shoes are given to them for free by the manufacturer as a form of advertising. Case in point, most award shows like the Oscars, no one buys their gown or jewells but you will hear of the designer a lot. The manufacturer banks on people seeking to emulate our favourite celebrities and paying full price. This is more likely the case with the $600k Rocking horse.

Siena:
[color=Blue]AngieFan!! Where have you been all this time?

Welcome back. [/color]

Hi Siena

I mostly lurk on here nowadays so never really went away. I hope you and the family are well and in good health.

lampardizik:
Rightly said,this also brings to mind Bobbi Brown,Whitney Houston's daughter who was more or less overwhelmed by the fortune her mom had left her and we all know the story

Bobbi Kristina is a very sad and apt example of how giving child too much, too soon can go terribly wrong.

lampardizik:
As much as any responsible parent would want to give their children the best,money is not the only price to pay and should not be the only thing to be considered. The monetary price may be cheap,but is it the only price?

Then and in the long run?

This reminds me of a story that was in the papers a few years back in the UK. The Dad was extremely successful with a company which turned over £20 million a year. (6.1 billion Naira) His only son had already passed his driving test and so when he turned 18 he bought him the most expensive Porsche on the market. I think the car was worth around £100k which is about 31 million Naira. The first night the guy went out with the car, he crashed it and was killed instantly. Moral of the story is, Money can't buy good driving skills or make an immature 18 year boy a professional driver of a Porsche..In short money does not buy everything a kid needs to make the right choices in life.

Some of the responses in this thread? Have you ever wondered why the rich stay rich i.e Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Dr Dre, Richard Branson etc and the Poor continue to be poor?

A gold Iphone that will probably be worth 50% less its value by the time the next release comes out in a year's time? N to the O!



Reasons

I am all about teaching my kids values in life that will take them further and help them to survive when Mummy and Daddy are no longer around to provide a safety net. Even if I had a 100 billion dollars I would seek to give my kids life lessons and set them up for life by spending my money sending them to the best educational institutions around the globe and other professional training that would put them in good standing among the top in the world. I would teach them the value of hard work, that life was not a bed of roses and that Mummy and Daddy's money did not automatically mean they had money. Mama may have, Papa may have but God bless the child that has his own.

An Iphone, a gold one at that would only seek to teach them that they didn't have to work hard to get anything in life. That everything would fall into the lap just because Mummy and Daddy had money. This is the reason why you see many children of former or deceased Governors who were stinking rich back in the day and able to give their kids a slice of heaven on earth now selling pure water in the market reminiscing about when life with Mummy and Daddy was sweet.

maedan:
^^^^ yeah me too. But he would blend right in if he wore an agbada, he does look Nigerian now that I think of it.
That Godfrey guy is good too. He's got one of his shows being sold on iTunes. That's bigtime. Happy for all of them.

There is no set look to being Nigerian as we are very diverse people. If fact if any of you were to travel to the Caribbean or even America you would probably find your double there.

cap28:
After reading some of the posts on here i am now convinced that there is a marked difference between how black people who were born and raised in america view racism from the way black people who came to the US as adults view racism.

You have to have lived through it to understand it and unfortunately many nigerians who came to the west as full grown adults do not understand what its like to live in an environment where being black is regarded as a mark of inferiority.

This is why some posters on here are saying things like: "whats the big deal", "why cant you move on" whereas blacks who were born and raised in an environment in which they have constantly been told that they are less than, automatically take offence to these pictures.

I have spent a lot of time researching and reading about the experience of african americans and i understand why african americans/ black people born and raised in america are upset.

Being black in america is synonymous with inferiority - there are some nigerians who are in complete denial about this but you can not run away from the truth. Black people in america have it ingrained in them from the cradle to the grave that there is something wrong with them because they are black, furthermore dark skin (especially on women is regarded as unattractive) the western media has placed on a pedestal the beauty of the white woman and has degraded the beauty of the black woman, this is evident in those pictures that Beyonce took in which the make up artiststs darken her skin in such a way that it looks as if the darkness of her skin is blotting out her beauty, in other words being very dark skinned makes it impossible for people to actually tell whether you are beautiful or not - this is what the white fashion and beauty industry thinks of dark skin.

Were Fela's dancers and singers not mostly dark skinned? were they not exquisitely beautiful? did any of them look like that caricature that Beyonce displayed in that magazine?

If you look at the way Fela's dancers/singers decorated their faces you can tell that this was done with the utmost care and attention, their faces were like works of art, contrast that with the cartoonish sambo like distortions on beyonce and you will see that the whites are merely using beyonce as a way to further push their insidious campaign that dark skin is not beautiful.

In the old days white entertainers would put boot polish on their faces and pretend to be black people - they would speak and act like braindead buffoons because this is how they wanted the world to perceive black people, as a result "black face" became synonymous with the words: clown, buffoon, sambo, simpleton and fool. It therefore beggars beleif that Beyonce and her handlers would go as far as using this sort of imagery to portray an african person.

Does it mean that beyonce and her handlers are so devoid of self respect and basic human dignity that they would be willing to not only demean themselves for a quick buck but also disregard the suffering and abuse meted out to their ancestors who fought for years to rise above those kind of hateful images and be treated as equals in a nation built on the sweat of their ancestors?

A new dawn it is! I actually agree with everything you said. . .

londoner:
I have seen pictures of Grace Jones where they have darkened her skin deliberately same with Alek Wek, all done by the same white modelling industry, I did not hear anyone criticise them nfor allowing it.

No, in fact when a dark skinned celerbity/model does it, they are heralded as some type of hero.

Some people need to grow up, nobody owes you so much that they need to life their life in a way just to satisfy every little thing that may offend you. Grow a thicker skin.

Grace Jones is naturally dark skinned though and they just played on that to make her look more androgynous. Its fashion. Show me a pic with Grace in white face then you would have a point. But even then 'white face' has never been used to denigrate and abuse white people has it.

Bishopking:
Her message is clear to those of us who have some understanding.

Recently, get updated on this if you can, she was in the news for 'whitening' her skin and 'hair'. She was even alleged to have turned white completely or pass for a white woman. The controversy is still a raging one. Now to shut her critics once and for all, I would say she decided, subtly using well understood historical stereotype, to pass the message that "If I should be one of you, I would need to paint myself" Had anyone insulted the muslims/Arabs in this manner, a fatwa would have been issued on her (Burka woman's Saad Haroon anyone). Anyway, she must be feeling lucky now since her masonic slave masters are watching her back.

Even though these pictures have just been published they were taken a year or so ago. . .before the pics of her looking white at The recent Grammys.

This was the same Beyonce who said she wished she had been born Latina. That is the equivalent of a Nigerian making it to become one of the biggest stars in the world and then turning around and saying that they wish they had been born a Black American. As I said if people don't understand why others are upset they should keep quiet instead of trying to dismiss their upset as stupidness.

[quote author=Inked_Nerd link=topic=610995.msg7803097#msg7803097 date=1298683585]
She wasn't showing off any different colors. With all honestly, some people are up in arms about it because they feel that given the fact that its Black History month it was especially offensive. Some people feel that as a light skinned woman she was being absentminded to the issues and struggles of people of a darker shade.

@Everyone: For those of you who don't live in the US or are unfamiliar with African American history, for someone to paint their face in blackface is highly offensive. Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to affect the countenance of an iconic, racist, American archetype, that of the darky or coon. Its basically used as a theatrical means to portray Black people in a negative manner. A lot of you seem to be forgetting that she is not the photographer or creative director behind this shoot. I'm not saying that it means that she doesn't have enough sense to say something just because its someone else's "artistic vision" but a lot of people are speaking about it as though she came up with the idea for the photo shoot. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if she could care less if it was offensive to Black people. After all, we're talking about a woman who once did a photo shoot with a company that is known for their racist marketing practices and ads.[/quote]The photographer has already said it was Beyonce's idea. He said that she 'voluntarily' opted to use the paint. In any case Beyonce is an A'lister with enough money to buy that magazine 100 times over if she wanted to and she has enough clout to tell them to piss off if she wanted to. It was not like the shoot was for 'Vogue who hardly use black models anyway.

To all:

If you don't understand why certain groups of black people find these images offensive then perhaps it would be wise to keep mute on the issue instead. Racism is still very much a big issue in Black America and one of their own to voluntarily adopting an image that was significantly used to degrade black people less than 70 years ago has opened a wound that is yet to heal.

[quote author=A.D.M. link=topic=610995.msg7802389#msg7802389 date=1298672805]As an AA, I know about blackface very well and the racial stereotyping that comes with it. I just don't give a damn about celebrities. But like I said, after reading a few comments, I admit it is offensive.[/quote]What are you doing in the celebrity forum then? Why click on a thread that has 'Beyonce' stated clearly in the title?

Nevermind.

[quote author=A.D.M. link=topic=610995.msg7801597#msg7801597 date=1298661788]Once again, I don't care for Beyonce, so whatever she does or says means nothing to me. I'm African-American, in case you're wondering. This story means nothing to me. In fact, entertainment shows here in the USA aren't covering it. But after reading ogugua88's comment, I can see why some would be offended. Sisi Kill, I'm black. No need to go deeper than that.[/quote]What part of African American are you? This story is on all the big AA sites and forums with hundreds of posts and most of them are not happy at this depiction of black people. Forget the big entertainment channels after all they most times focus on more mainstream stories aimed at white people.

Fela and his dancers never painted their faces black and I am sure there one of two of the wives who were just as light skinned as Beyonce. Beyonce voluntarily blackened her face as if to say she is not one of us (black people) and it is an insult. That is the general consensus on the AA sites and forums.

P.S As an African American perhaps you need to read up more on Blackface iconography and how it contributed to the denigration of Black people in the diaspora.

@Lastpage: Why did you edit your post?

^^
@Lastpage

Excellent breakdown, although I do disagree with one or two things but won't go into that now.

However, in regards to this:

And what would happen to Madam, if after the jail term is served and the young man is still unavailable in U.K?

Mum will receive a lifetime criminal record which she will have to declare each time she goes for a job and there could even be a risk of deportation if she doesn't already have a British passport. It may also have and effect on her should she will to go to America in future.

I think the forced/arranged marriage is a long term view and not something that the family want to happen right away. They just want him to be in Nigeria where they believe he can be purged of his homosexual tendencies, finish his education and probably get married by the age of 21.

The family may succeed by keeping the son in Nigeria but he will forever remain a homosexual and so they need to ask themselves if it will be better for him to be gay in Nigeria or in the UK where views on such lifestyles are more liberal. I would hate to hear of Edirin been beaten to death because of his sexual orientation.

I notice that the UK media and the UK lawyer's press release have both been very careful not to mention the name of the Trust that Edirin approached. However the name of Trust was printed fully in the press release on Sahara Reporters and I feel that could probably do a lot more harm than good. One of the commentators on Sahara Reporters even threatened to kill Edirin for being gay - I conclude that Nigeria is not a safe place for a young openly gay teen to be and he should be brought back before the beatings go too far or some other drastic thing happens.

^^^

Sagamite is taking the press release by Mrs Erhire's Legal team or support group on Sahara reporters as fact. Click on the link below to read it.
http://www.saharareporters.com/press-release/edirin-onojeta-idogun-case-judicial-terrorism-uk



However the link below is the press release from Edirin's Legal team
http://www.dawsoncornwell.co.uk/en/documents/press_release_Onojeta-Idogun.pdf


I think in order to be objective one has to read both and or at least wait to read the court transcripts before making a judgement.

If the parents are repsonsible to provide for him and take care of him till he is 18, then it makes sense they are aware if he is getting an order/injunction against them. I don't know how much more I can emphasis that point.

What part of he can get a job, get married, buy a house, apply for legal aid to instruct his own lawyers and drive a car without parental consent don't you understand? Besides he was in temporary accommodation when the mother tricked him into going to Nigeria which means the parents were not providing for him.

Sweetie, if there is an arranged marriage where one of the parties to marry is not interested but is given no voluntary choice to say yes or no, it is a forced marriage.

Arrange marriages take place in Nigeria all the time where one of the parties does not consent but goes through with it anyway for peace of mind. You are in denial.

In other words, a forced marriage is the union of a man with woman but with at least one of them not given their full and free consent to the marriage.

In Nigeria for example, it is not uncommon where parents genuinely felt that they were acting in their children and family's best interests.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201004090394.html  (The cases in the link refer to Non Northern Nigeria)

http://www.wluml.org/node/6742

The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has reported an increase in the number of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) teenagers coming forward to ask for help from them: This year, the FMU has dealt with 29 confirmed cases of forced marriage involving gay men and women.

If you or a friend are at risk of being forced into marriage call the Forced Marriage Unit on 020 7008 0151 - or +44 20 7008 0151 if you are overseas. All calls will be treated in strict confidence.

   * Forced Marriage Unit
   * LGBT Forced Marriage Advice
   * The Albert Kennedy Trust  <------ This is the organisation that Edirin approached

It would be craaaazy to say courts can arbitrarily take away parental rights because the child request so.

Utterly crazy!

Edirin involved a high profile gay organisation who are who quite experienced in dealing with forced marriages of gay teens. I am sure Edirin must have provided evidence that he was gay and needed help before they decided to help him and I don't mean that in a nasty way. This organisation must have presented the evidence before the courts.

THERE IS NO FORCED MARRIAGE IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA, not even amongst the illiterates.

You are in denial.  .  .please google. Gay men as well as underaged girls are forced to go through marriages all the time. It is nothing new.

My responses in red.

Arranged marriage is not forced marriage and I doubt people practice arranged marriage there in this day and age. Please provide your proof.  I posted a link above

I have shown you the saharareporter link. Read it there. The statement on Sahara Reporters is a press statement on behalf of the mum just like the one I posted from Edirin's lawyers above. None are statements made under oath and so should not be taken as fact

It is silly for a court to make a judgement based on one side of a story without any shred of evidence.Again how do you know they haven't been presented with evidence? Did you attend the court hearings?

IT IS the courts job to verify accusations ESPECIALLY if they are not giving the other party an opportunity to proffer a defence!Yes and they were in the process of doing that but then mum chose to jump the gun by tricking her son into going back to Nigeria. If she had nothing to hide she would have instructed her own lawyers to challenge the order and gotten vacated before taking Edirin to Nigeria

My response to your summary in red:

* The boy's parents culture/tribe does not practice forced marriages. They practise arrange marriages
* The boy's parents culture/tribe has never practiced forced marriages in their history, it is not Pakistan. See above
* The court did not give the parents the platform to defend themselves against forced marriage allegations and retain their parental rights.
How do you know?
* There was no evidence produced that showed the parents mentioned marrying him off. Its the parents word against Edirin's. It was up to the parents to show he was wrong instead that tricked him out of the country and left him in Nigeria when a court order was in place, arousing suspicion.
* The was no evidence produced that the parents were in the process of organising a marriage.See above
* The courts were too ignorant to realise the average Southern Nigerian parent, talkless of an educated one, is more likely to emphasis education rather than marriage for a 17 year old BOY. Again it is not the courts job to know the cultures and customs of each foreign individual that places a case for it to judge. However they have a responsibility to protect those who seek it

The protection order according to a report was placed without the parents even being aware it was being requested.

Why do the parents have to be aware that a protection order is being arranged. Again this is a 17 year old young man who islegally capable of  applying for legal aid to pay his own lawyers, get a driving licence, get married, joining the army, get a job, buy a house, own business, take his passport and fly all over the world without parental consent. Therefore his parents don't need to be aware that he has taken out protection order especially if it is against them.

Sorry, arranged marriage is not the same as forced marriage. EVEN arranged marriage is not against the law in the UK, so I don't see how that your argument is valid.

Again you are getting caught up in semantics in regards to 'forced' as opposed to 'arranged'. If someone goes through an arranged marriage even though they don't want to it is still considered to be a 'forced' one. Just because you see the word 'forced' it doesn't mean that they were literally beaten down the aisle and made to take vows. You don't know if Edirin's mother set up a girl for him to marry in the village because she was dead set against his gay lifestyle.

He was made a ward of court because he wished to be made one. Why can't you understand that?

How many Southern Nigerian mothers/parents disapprove of their kid's "reluctance" to marry at 17?  Worse still, ones that are educated?

If he is gay then sure they would disapprove of his reluctance to get married. I can't see them allowing him to be gay for five more years before approaching the subject of marriage to a female at 22 when it is perfectly legal for him to do so at 17. Of course in England the forced marriage protection order is in place and it would be hard to find a girl here who would be willing to marry at such a young age. However in Nigeria they wouldn't be faced with such issues.

This is the press release from Edirin's Lawyers.

http://www.dawsoncornwell.co.uk/en/documents/press_release_Onojeta-Idogun.pdf

Media Release
Dated: 15 February 2011
Embargo: None
Media Release: Edirin Onojeta-Idogun
__________________________________________________ _________________________
1. Edirin Onojeta-Idogun was born on 10 March 1993 he is now aged 17. He is represented by
Anne-Marie Hutchinson of Dawson Cornwell as his solicitor and next friend. He is a ward of
court. His exact whereabouts are unknown.

2. His mother is Lydia Erhire she lived until recently at an address in Newham, London which
had been the family home for a number of years.

3. His father is John IDOGUN he is a special adviser to the Governor of Delta state and resides
in, Okwa, Asaba Nigeria.

4. Edirin has lived in London for over seven years. He has been granted indefinite leave to
remain in the United Kingdom. Up until he was taken to Nigeria in July 2010 his home was in
Newham London. He studied for his GCSEs at a local school and had recently arranged to
transfer to B6 College Hackney to study Business and Media with a view to developing a
career in business management here in the UK.

5. During the summer of 2010 Edirin approached an organisation which assists young people.
They provided him with practical and emotional assistance as Edirin was fearful that he
would be removed from his home and taken to Nigeria.

6. The organisation also assisted him in obtaining a Forced Marriage Protection Order from the
Principal Registry of the Family Division on 8 July 2010 as EDIRIN feared he may be taken to
Nigeria and forced to marry against his will.

7. Edirin last attended school on 12 July 2010. He was removed by his mother and taken to
Nigeria against his will on or about 16 July 2010. Mother denies this. His mother
subsequently returned to the United Kingdom on 16 October 2010 leaving Edirin in Nigeria.

8. The organisation through their links in Nigeria was able to arrange for Edirin to be placed in a
"safe house" between 29 August 2010 and 6 September 2010. During this period he was
able to telephone the organisation and reported that;

    * a. He had been subjected to quasi religious ceremonies or exorcisms to purge him of
    * his resistance to getting married.
    * b. He does not wish to get married.
    * c. He wished to return "home" to the United Kingdom.
    * d. That he had been beaten by various members of his family.

9. On 6 September 2010 his whereabouts were discovered by his family. The family with the
assistance of the police placed him with a family member. He was then placed in a boarding
school – The Life Forte International School.

10. The mother arranged for Edirin to swear an affidavit asking for the court proceedings in
London to be stopped. The court and various professionals have also received documents
reportedly from Edirin asking for the court proceedings to be discontinued and recording
that he is content to remain in Nigeria. The mother also produced a DVD recording in which
Edirin can be seen asking for the English court proceedings to be stopped.

11. The organisation is worried that the affidavit, letters, DVD and the telephone calls may not
accurately reflect his wishes and feelings and were not freely made.

12. Edirin's case before the Family Division in London has been conducted by Ms Anne-Marie
Hutchinson OBE of Dawson Cornwell solicitors acting as his legal next friend. In proceedings
before the Federal High Court Abuja in Nigeria his case has been conducted by a senior
human rights lawyer Carol Ajie C.N AJIE & CO.

13. As a consequence of cooperation between the English and Nigerian lawyers and of the
Nigerian High Court Edirin was collected from Life Forte International boarding school in
Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria, which his mother had placed him in on Sunday 30 January 2011.
He was transported to an hotel where he stayed on Sunday night.

14. During the course of Sunday he was able to telephone Anne-Marie Hutchinson and told her
how happy he was that he would be returning to London on Tuesday. He subsequently emailed
her expressing his thanks.

15. On Monday, 31 January 2011 Edirin was provided with the necessary emergency travel
documents to allow him to travel home to England. His passport had been taken from him
by a family member, and despite court orders, his aunt refuses to return it to him.

16. On Tuesday, 1 February 2011 Edirin went to Abuja airport to board a British Airways flight to
London scheduled to depart 10 AM Nigerian time. He went through passport control and
was about to board the plane when he was arrested by immigration officials. It is not clear
why he was detained but he was prevented from leaving Nigeria.

17. The Nigerian press reported his arrest and subsequent detention.

18. The High Court sitting in London has indicated that on the evidence presented to it that;

    * a. Edirin was habitually resident in England before his removal and remains so
    * b. his removal from England was contrary to the Forced Marriage Protection Order
    * made on 8.7.10
    * c. Edirin is at significant risk whilst in Nigeria and requires the taking of immediate
    * steps to protect his current position and secure his immediate return to England
    * d. Edirin’s welfare and best interests would be best served by him being returned to
    * England forthwith

19. The court has made orders directing Lydia Erhire and John IDOGUN to return EDIRIN to
England immediately. These orders have been registered in the Federal High Court Holden at
Abuja Nigeria on 3 December 2010.

20. On 3 February 2011 the court found that Lydia Erhire was in breach of a High Court Order
but adjourned sentencing until February 14th 2011. She was directed to sign various
documents to assist in the repatriation of Edirin from Nigeria by midday on 4 February. She
was warned that if she did not co-operate a bench warrant would be issued for her
immediate arrest.

21. The mother failed to sign the documentation. On 4 February seeking a bench warrant
seeking her arrest which was granted but suspended until 5.30 pm that same day to give
mother a further chance to comply with the court’s order.

22. The mother attended the committal hearing listed 14th February 2011 at the Royal Courts of
Justice. She was sentenced to serve an 8 month custodial sentence at Holloway Prison and is
the first person in the UK to be jailed for breaking laws on forced marriage. Several members
of the same Urhobo tribe as Edirin were present at the hearing, which was held in open
court. Mrs Justice Macur said, in sentencing Lydia Erhire, that Erhire had lied and that she
was not satisfied that she was “truly remorseful for the imperilment of Edirin’s welfare”.

23. Edirin’s solicitor Anne-Marie Hutchinson has said as follows: “I am extremely anxious about
Edirin’s welfare. He said that he has been beaten and has been subjected to procedures
which aim to exorcise him of his disobedience to his parents in terms of his desire not to be
married. He has told me that he wants to return ‘home’ to England. I do not know where he
is. After all that has happened I could not be satisfied that any telephone call or written
communication from him represents his true wishes and that he is able to communicate
freely. He must now return to England so that he can speak to the court directly.”

24. Anyone with information in respect of the whereabouts or wellbeing of Edirin Onojeta-
Idogun, or information that could assist the court in this matter is requested to contact
Anne-Marie Hutchinson of Dawson Cornwell Solicitors at 15 Red Lion Square, London WC1R
4QT (Tel: 0207 242 2556).
__________________________________________________ _________________________
Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE
Dawson Cornwell
15 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4QT
Tel: +44(0)20 7242 2556
amh@dawsoncornwell.com

Here is another article:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23920510-send-boy-17-back-to-uk-or-face-jail-family-told.do

Send boy, 17, back to UK or face jail, family told

The family of a teenager allegedly being held against his will in Nigeria have 10 days to return him to Britain or they will face jail.

Edirin Onogeta-Idogun claims he was beaten and forced to undergo exorcisms because his mother disapproved of his lifestyle and reluctance to get married. What 'lifestyle'?

The 17-year-old Londoner said he was "tricked" into going back to his homeland, and his whereabouts are now unknown.

Last July he took advantage of recently introduced laws that allow people at risk of forced marriage to take out protection orders against their families.

Edirin came to Britain with his mother Lydia Erhire in 2004 and settled in Newham. His father, John Idogun, is the special adviser to the governor of Delta State in Nigeria.

When Edirin informed British authorities that his parents had broken the terms of the order, the courts ordered Ms Erhire to have her son sent back to London and yesterday warned that if he was not returned by February 14 she would be sent to prison.

Ms Erhire and Mr Idogun deny the allegations.

Edirin was arrested three days ago by immigration officials at Abuja International Airport after boarding a British Airways flight.

@Sagamite

But no courts should have a right to deny parental rights over a ward they are responsible for without SUFFICIENT evidence/possibility of danger to the child.

The court does not have the right to say the parents are guilty and the boy is right, just as much as they cannot say the boy is lying and the parent is right. They need to do an adequate risk assessment. Considering forced marriage DOES NOT and has NEVER been a culture of the Urhobo people or any other tribe miles around them, and the fact no evidence was produced that the parents mentioned marriage or are in preparation for one will FAIL any form of adequate risk assessment.

Judges allocating arbitrary orders that impedes parental rights is dangerous. When he is 18, he can do what ever he likes and if anyone tries to stop him, they are kidnapping or impeding his rights.

No court has deemed the parent guilty of arranging a forced marriage. The protection order in place is not a sign of guilt of the parent it is there to protect against the boys claims.


The guy is a ward of the UK court. The parents are no longer responsible for him.


How do you know that Edirin's lawyers have not provided the court with sufficient evident? Have you been attending the court hearings?

I think you are getting caught up in the semantics of 'Forced marriage'. Arranged marriages do take place in Nigeria. Perhaps you would be happier if the order was called 'Arranged marriage protection order' instead? Would you then agree that those types of marriages are common place in Nigeria?

Edirin will be 18 next month. I hope he will be allowed to come back to England and not held against his will. Apparently he tried to board a flight on Monday to come back but Nigerian immigration took him off the plane. It then came to light that Edirin's  mother had somehow ordered this and that was the reason she was found to have violated the order by preventing her son from coming back and subsequently sent to jail.

Sagamite.

We are not talking about a 10 year old. This guy is a 17 year old young adult  who has the right for the courts to hear his case whether that be against his parents or not. The Court can't just assume the parent is right and the boy is lying just because  they gave birth to him and it is also not their duty to carry out a research into forced marriages in Urhobo land. That duty falls to both of the parties involved and for the court to past judgement on that.

It would be a breach of this young man's human rights if the court threw out his claim without giving it a fair hearing and I understand that the order was put in place as a precautionary measure and it should have been respected.

If the mother was going to completely disregard the law as she did then she should have stayed in Nigeria with her son but then she chose to come back and so now she serving  a well earned prison sentence.

The boy could have told them that he felt he was going to be forced into a marriage since he is gay and his parents disapprove.