100 Nigerians Deported From Norway, Others

Some of the deportees speaking with reporters at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos...yesterday. Photo: Isaac Jimoh Ayodele.

One hundred Nigerians were deported yesterday from four Scandinavian countries for immigration and related offences. The deportees were sent from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

The Nation reports they were flown into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, aboard a chartered aircraft that took off from Oslo, the capital of Finland, en route Madrid, Spain.

The aircraft arrived in Lagos about 6.50am and taxied to the cargo wing of the airport, where the deportees were handed over to security agents for documentation.

After disembarking from the aircraft, the deportees were escorted by security personnel to the palace gate entrance of the cargo terminal.

It was gathered that they were deported from their Finland’s deportation camp after they failed to secure asylum.

Some of the deportees with criminal and related offences were taken away from the courts in a Coaster bus driven by sheriffs.

After documentations yesterday, about three of the deportees were taken away in a Hilux Pick up van to the Beesam Police Station to answer for violence while on board.

Their documents, it was learnt, were confiscated by relevant security agencies.

One of the deportees, who declined to give his name, alleged that Nigerian Embassy officials in Sweden connived with Norwegian authorities to facilitate their deportation.

Another deportee, who also declined to give her name, said despite her being pregnant, the authorities maltreated her in Finland.

She said she moved over to Finland to seek asylum from Greece, where she had spent over eight years.

Another male deportee said he spent 14 years in Finland with valid documents and yet, he was sent home.

He said he was forced to abandon his family, adding that his deportation could have adverse effects.

A man, his wife and two teenage children born in Greece, who sought asylum in Finland, were also deported.

The deportees said the authorities in the Scandinavian countries were hostile towards Nigerians, as nationals of other African countries were granted asylum.

Some of the deportees were seeing appealing to airport workers to give them mobile phones to call their relatives in Lagos to take them home.