Chris-OD:


So how does sack equate to deportation? You ignorant illiterate.

Chris-OD:


Can you show evidence that Abia deported anyone from Abia?

Tpave: I thought that we are in one Nigeria?

prologue: Overtake don o
When an elder chooses to keep children's ball on his head, should not be surprised when he receive knocks from the children.

Chris-OD:



Because those Anambra destitutes are SUPERIOR to Yoruba destitutes. Destitute pass destitute

Chris-OD:


There are FAR more destitutes from lagos, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ogun in Lagos than from any other state. Deal with those.

Pro-Jang Governors Stop Him From Reading Communiqué

By SaharaReporters, New York

Governors loyal to Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the chairman of a break-away minority faction of the Nigeria Governors Forum, on Sunday night stopped Mr. Jang from reading the communiqué issued by their group after a meeting in Abuja.

Instead, the governors asked Mr. Jang’s deputy, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, to read the document on their behalf, according to a source within the faction. A helpless Jang looked on as Mr. Mimiko read the communiqué.

SaharaReporters learnt that some of the governors within Mr. Jang’s camp had complained that he was hardly audible whenever he spoke to reporters. They also complained that the Plateau governor lacked charisma and good rapport with the media. “A few of the governors on his side expect him to show the carriage of a man leading other governors,” said a source.

The factional meeting was boycotted by a majority of the governors, who back Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. Twenty-one out of 36 governors did not attend the meeting and did not send their deputies to represent them.

In reading the faction’s communiqué, Governor Mimiko announced that the splinter group had set up a five-man committee to review their constitution. The committee, which is to be chaired by Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, has Governors Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Theodore Orji (Abia), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Mimiko as members.

homesteady:

Do you also expect her to declare her stolen assets?

kITA TITA:

Please I'm also Igbo. People tend to argue based on information available to them, their interests and their orientation. You don't disparage Igbo on this thread and fail to see the jaundiced and hate comments from the likes of Femi Fani-Kayode, Jide Kosoko and Joe Igbokwe( the sympathizer who is weeping louder than the bereaved). I pay my tax in Lagos and I'm concerned that someday Lagos State government will find me no longer useful and 'deport' me to wherever. The deportation policy of the present day governors is condemnable; whether carried out by Abia, Anambra, FCT or Lagos. The governors who contributed to impoverish the people have turned to attack the poor and less privileged in the society.

teskyg: GEJ is too soft.How can a Miscrant like El-Rufai refered to seating President as an Oil Thieve?This is getting out of hand.A Chidi Lyold treatment to the likes of El-Rufai will be wellcom.

redsun:

It is like a man that speaks from both side of his mouth,that was why concluded he was kayode without even reading through. Those that reads through the trashy thesis of kayode must be insane like him.

mikeansy: Where is that OPC.NAIRALAND who was interpreting silly laws to me

Now Femi Falana has spoken

Deportation of Nigerians within Nigeria is unacceptable no matter which State Government is doing it!

kITA TITA: It's actually the rich versus the poor. It is not politics or ethnicity or anything else. The poor is under attack from the rich and powerful.

eGuerrilla: I would leave it up to El-Rufai to react to the curve-balls lobbed in his direction

One thing I find curious in this official response is the veracity given to a Wikileak document.
Surely if you lend credibility to one of these, you do this same for all others, no?

Delta demolishes caravans, illegal structures in Warri

WARRI—Delta State Ministry of Environment has demolished all caravans and illegal structures on Edjeba Road and its environs in Warri.

The operation, led by the Environment Commissioner, Mr. Frank Omare, Vanguard gathered, commenced at 5am, ridding the entire area of caravans and other illegal structure on the road.

Omare said that he had given notice to affected persons long ago but yesterday, made good his promise to bring down all the caravans and illegal structures in the area.

But the commissioner gave students of the College of Education, Warri, who staged a peaceful protest, one month grace, within which to move out of their makeshift hostels before the bulldozers send them packing from the area.

Vanguard also gathered that despite the notice given to owners of caravans and other illegal structures on Edjeba Road, many of them were caught napping when the bulldozers started the demolition exercise, witnessed by the Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Ben Igbakpa and Warri South Transition Committee Chairman, Dr Augustine Uroye.

Many people rushed from churches, when the news got to them, to salvage their business places, with many complaining that they were not given enough notice to look elsewhere. But it turned out to be a good day to some, such as cab drivers, truck owners and pay loaders, who made brisk business evacuating things from business premises.

Describing the demolition as a huge success, Omare said: “We carry out demolition exercises on regular bases as it is part of the mandate given to us. Caravans are more than the population in Edjeba community and we are not out to celebrate caravans as they have to go.”



Sincere 9gerian: Femi Falana should bow his head in shame wherever he is. It's unbelievable how this so called activists turn blind eye or try to justify the poo of APC states.

I stopped reading the NONSENSE article the moment I saw "14 beggars". How come Femi Falana decided to COMPLETELY ignore figures (atleast 67) reported by most of the national dailies (particulary Vanguard, Guardian, Punch and Sun) that first reported this incident? How come Femi Falana decided to completely ignore the confessions of some of the deportees as reported in the dailies? Some of the deportees claimed to have been abducted by KAI's agents while returning to their shops? Femi Falana completely ignored all of that and termed all the deportees "beggars".

While Femi Falana completely ignored the media versions of the recent Lagos deportation and quoted verbatim the position of the Lagos State govt on the issue, he wholly lifted media reports of alleged deportation by the Anambra State Govt in 2011, that of Akwa-Ibom state,etc.

FAIRNESS demands that Femi Falana's watery article should have atleast given ear to all sides of the story.

It is interesting to see Femi Falana go to town with the position or figures of the Lagos state govt on an issue but the learned SAN is notorious for jettisoning or feigning ignorance of the position or official figures of the federal govt on any issue. During the fuel subsidy saga of 2012 for instance, Femi Falana never relied or quoted figures from official govt agencies. He always worked with or quoted figures from unofficial quarters, including those from known opposition media houses.

It is bad enough that the voice of the learned SAN on this issue of deportation came very very late. But even when it came, it was nothing but tacit justification of the inhumane, illegal, unconstitutional, wicked and satanic deportation.

Some of us are now fully convinced that these so called activists are NOTHING but toothless bull dogs of their paymasters in Lagos

tarryT: This is shameful..... Soyinka is now refered to as MOP and rightly so... Falana is now dancing n.ak.ed in d market, calling himself inteligent..

Tellin us tales by moonlight in defence of Fashola's madness.... Whats d relationship between King Jaja tale, and MKO story with Fashola war against the poor and illegal 'deportation'...

There is no truth in d land.

Its shameful to watch APC e-rats defendin this.

Maxymilliano: When you committed an offence and you are challenged, you don't just say another person committed the same offence, hence it is fair.

The article attempted to justify the lawlessness because it was meted to others elsewhere and at other times.

But the bottom line is internal deportation of citizen in whatever guise is illegal.

The Lagos Deportation And The Law By Femi Falana

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 leading peaceful 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.e the 1995 phantom coup, were deported from 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.

Like 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 dislodged in 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 dumped them 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 being waged 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 drew the 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 December 2011 Governor 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 out of sheer ethnic irredentism should be advised to examine the socio-economic implications 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 are illegal 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 any part thereof.”

Since deportation has denied the vicctims the fundamental right to move freely and reside in any state of their choice it is illegal and unconstitutional. It is indubitably clear   that the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the African 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. A nation 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 economic crimes have never been deported to their states of origin. It is high time the   government 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 case of 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

Dr. Olodo:


Both of us were not at the elections therefore would not know who won. Let each factional chairman call his meeting then we would know who really won.