FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Germany Nigerian Deportees who recently attended the National Migration Dialogue in Abuja have expressed dissapointment over the way they were treated at the event.
The event, which was organized by Civil Society for Migration and Development, CSF, with the theme: “Strategies for State-Level Engagement for the Implementation of the 2025 National Migration Policy,” attracted stakeholders like the IOM, EU and federal government representatives, including some migrants who were recently deported from various countries, especially Germany.
One of the deportees who was at the Abuja event, Bright Obasuyi expressed his disappointment at the outcome, as it offered no chance to victims of forced and illegal deportation from European countries the opportunity to relieve their sordid experiences.
Obasuyi was definite in his conclusion that the Nigerian authorities would do nothing to redress the injustices meted out on its citizens abroad, having watched them look away when he was being brutalised by German immigration officials at the Lagos International Airport during his illegal deportation from Germany.
Obasuyi recounted how the German officials used an electric object to shock him severally and tie his stomach to the seat that almost seized his breath throughout the eight hours journey from Germany to Nigeria and the torture that followed thereafter. “All the ill treatments they meted out on me are trending on the social media. So, what would I expect in this kind of event that took place in Abuja”?
He noted that when the CSO, the organizers of the event, brought them out to speak to the stakeholders, the IOM, EU, German representatives and others who were supposed to listen to their plight were not present, adding that when these people eventually arrived the event the following day, they approached the organizers to allow them take advantage of the opportunity to relieve the pains of illegal deportation, torture and the racism, but they got no response.
He alleged that government representatives did not want the German officials to know what they passed through, but were only interested in sharing the positives in both countries diplomatic experiences and not the awkward and bizarre matters that affect Nigerians in Germany.
Obasuyi, however, said his case is presently being handled by a lawyer, adding that it is ongoing.”This is how things are done rightly in Europe. But in Nigeria, we hide the truth. They only talk about integration and that is not real”.
He advised that in subsequent events, migrants should be allowed to speak on all they went through during the process of deportation. He also noted that the organizers should not give anybody the opportunity to engage in the selection of migrants that would be allowed to come out and speak. “It should be the migrants that are facing persecution”, Obasuyi concluded.
On his part, Richies Idemudia, who was equally deported from Germany, said he was suddenly arrested at his work place.
He added that before he could reach out to his lawyer, he had already been taken to the deportation flight to Nigeria. He said when he got to Nigeria, the situation turned out to be a difficult one as no help was coming from anywhere, not even the government.
Idemudia disclosed that he was one of the attendees of the 2025 Migrants Day that took place in Abuja recently. He said the event though originally meant for migrants to share experiences, they were not given time to speak when it mattered the most.
He expressed disappointment with the Nigerian officials who claimed to be there to represent their interests. But they ended up telling stories about deportees integration and support financially. He said none of them had received any support from government since they arrived the country.
He alleged that all the things the Nigerian officials told IOM, EU and other stakeholders gave a false impression that the right things are being done whereas the reverse is the case.
He said things they never thought of doing for the migrants such as establishing them in different businesses or trades was what they were telling the donor agencies.
A female attendee, Wealth Ogbo, who was also deported from Germany, had earlier narrated her ordeal.
Ogbo, who arrived Nigeria on April 16, 2024, said she had been stranded since she arrived without help from anywhere.
She recalled that she spent a month and four days in prison before she was eventually deported from Germany. “I came home with nothing as all my belongings are in Germany. Now, I have no money, no clothes to wear because I only came with the one I was wearing the day I was deported”.
Ogbo added that since she returned to Nigeria, she has been sick all through, moving from one herbalist to the other without any solution. She said at times she is unable to walk and had lost sight in one of her eyes.
She complained of a series of complications having undergone surgical operation twice in Germany.
Ogbo lamented that despite two doctors reports that adviced the German authorities not to deport her, they ignored them.
She also narrated how the doctors in Germany abused her with all sorts of drugs which she said had caused a lot of damage to her health situation. She appealed to relevant government authorities to come to her aid, as life has become miserable for her.
On the recent National Migration Dialogue, she said although they tagged the day as Migrants Day, but they were never given the opportunity to achieve all that they went there for. “No opportunity to speak for ourselves. No recognition by the organizers”.
She advised that in such event, migrants should be given the opportunity to speak so that they can hear from them directly, because many people are over there suffering. She added that she presently lives inside a church since there is no help from anywhere because she returned home with nothing after many years abroad.
The Treasurer of Returned Migrants Association, Edo State, Nosa Okundia observed that the migrants were not recognised even though the programme was initially meant for them.
