{"id":662,"date":"2019-09-01T02:01:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T00:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.wordpress.com\/?p=662"},"modified":"2019-09-01T02:01:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-01T00:01:22","slug":"looming-suspicion-over-deportation-4rm-germany-to-nigeria-by-innocent-duru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/2019\/09\/01\/looming-suspicion-over-deportation-4rm-germany-to-nigeria-by-innocent-duru\/","title":{"rendered":"LOOMING SUSPICION OVER DEPORTATION 4rm GERMANY TO NIGERIA ! by Innocent Duru &#8211; Horrors of asylum seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><em>Discordant<strong> tunes over deportation of Nigerian migrants from Germany<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align:justify\">\n<li><em><strong>Nobody was deported, claims Nigerian Immigration \u2022We\u2019re aware deported migrants landed on August 19 \u2013FAAN<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Nigerian Embassy, Germany: 27 Nigerian migrants were deported from Frankfurt \u2022NASS to tackle inhuman treatment of deportees<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><em><strong>Last weekend, we published\u00a0 a report about how Nigerian migrants\u00a0 were put in hand and leg cuffs while being deported from Frankfurt to Murtala Muhammed International Airport by the German authorities and secretly dumped outside the airport.The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigeria Embassy in Germany, in this follow up to the report,confirmed the deportation. But despite the overwhelming evidence that the deportation took place,\u00a0 the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) surprisingly\u00a0 said there was no deportation from Germany. INNOCENT DURU reports the discordant tunes that trail the deportation.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">What does Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have to hide about the deportation of Nigerian migrants from Germany on August 19? This obviously is the question that would come to the mind of any rational person reading this report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">For the past two weeks, we have published reports about the deportation of Nigerian migrants from Frankfurt, Germany. The first, published on August 17,\u00a0 was an exclusive news report that Germany was going to deport some Nigerian migrants on Monday, August\u00a0 19, 2019 and that they would arrive the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,\u00a0 between 2pm and 3pm.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_ad jeg_ad_article jnews_content_inline_2_ads  \" style=\"text-align:justify\">\n<div class=\"ads-wrapper align-center \">\n<div class=\"ads_code\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"><ins id=\"aswift_3_expand\"><ins id=\"aswift_3_anchor\"><\/ins><\/ins><\/ins><span style=\"color:var(--color-text)\">On the said day, the deportation took place as exactly published in the report, albeit in a very secretive manner. We adequately captured every bit of the exercise last weekend, August 24, 2019 in our elaborate special report.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">In spite of the pictorial evidence that validated the deportation, the Nigeria Immigration Service shockingly denied that Germany deported any Nigerian migrants on the said date.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The national spokesperson of the NIS,\u00a0 Sunday James, in a telephone interview\u00a0 with our correspondent,\u00a0 unequivocally said the Murtala Muhammed Airport office informed them that\u00a0 there was no such deportation when he inquired from them. \u201cThere was no deportation from Germany to my knowledge.\u00a0 Even last week, some of your media colleagues called to that effect and we confirmed from the Lagos Airport office that there was nothing like that.\u00a0 Yes from the Lagos Airport, there was nothing like that.\u00a0 As at the last time I spoke with our office in Lagos, they said there was nothing like that and that was last week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Explaining the organisation\u2019s role when people are deported, he said: \u201cOur role as immigration officials is to profile them to know why they were deported, and how many they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Aside the deportation last Monday, James, also\u00a0 unequivocally denied that Germany had deported any Nigerian migrants this year even when our findings revealed that some Nigerian migrants were earlier deported. The Nigerian\u00a0 Embassy in Germany also corroborated our findings. A Minister Information, Culture and Education at the Nigerian Embassy in Germany, Peter Lambat,\u00a0 told The Nation that 335 Nigerian migrants have been deported this year from Germany.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">But the NIS PRO said: \u201cI am not aware that Nigerian migrants were deported in July.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know the last time people were deported from Germany. If it is Germany, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any business with deportation as the PRO; it is only when the Comptroller General is informed and communicated. The process is done through the investigation section. When this is done, definitely, I will know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Asked when and how the service receives information about deportation of Nigerians, he said: \u201cSignals for deportation don\u2019t come to me,\u00a0 they go to the CGS. I don\u2019t know of any deportation from Germany, quote me authoritatively as the service PRO.\u00a0 There is supposed to be an advanced notification that people would be deported but I\u00a0 as the service PRO, Iam not aware of any but the service may be aware.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>FAAN, Nigerian Embassy confirm our report\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Contrary to NIS\u2019 blatant denial of the deportation, however, the Federal Aiport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Embassy in Germany have officially confirmed that the exercise took place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The FAAN spokesperson, Henrietta Yakubu, in a telephone interview\u00a0 with our correspondent, confirmed the arrival of the deportees at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, penultimate Monday. \u201cYes, they landed on August 19 but I don\u2019t have details about the aircraft that brought them. \u201c<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Prodded further to comment on why the deportees were secretly taken out of the airport and dumped outside theNigerian Aviation Handling Company( NAHCO )premises, Yakubu said: \u201cHonestly I don\u2019t have that information for you.\u00a0 We have ministries that take care of deportees. It is not FAAN that does that.\u00a0 You need to get that information from another agency.\u00a0 Ours is that they landed at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The Nigerian envoy in Germany, Peter Lambat, also confirmed that the deportation took place. \u201cTo the best of our knowledge, the last deportation batch was on 19th August, 2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Headquarters was informed to facilitate welcome and other actions by relevant government institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Providing statistics of deported Nigerian migrants since the beginning of the year and those currently in prison in German, Lambat said: \u201cBy our records, 27 people were deported that day. There are 129 Nigerian prisoners across German prisons; 335 have been deported from January 2019 to date.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cDeportations are carried out after due administrative processes as initiated by the German authorities and in conjunction with the Nigerian Embassy. Hence, no estimates of future deportations can be made for now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Asked why Germany put the deportees in in chain while deporting them, the envoy said the mission was not aware of what conditions the deportees were subjected to en route Lagos, Nigeria, adding:\u201d Embassy officials do not accompany deportees on the homeward journey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cHis Excellency, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar had a meeting with the German State Secretary of Interior, Dr. Helmut Teichmann on 23\/8\/19 and the following was gathered:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cThe ministry had not received any such report on this particular flight.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>Some of the deportees are convicts\u00a0\u00a0 that have finished serving prison terms, often for committing violent crimes;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>\u201cDeportees are only cuffed when they become violent and also when there is a high level threat assessment to the flight crew, officials and the other deportees; even at that, the cuffs are only of plastic materials.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cThe embassy always takes allegations of inhumane treatment of Nigerians very seriously, which is why the ambassador and senior diplomats in the embassy physically met with the Interior Ministry\u2019s Permanent Secretary and most senior civil servant, Mr Teichmann. The embassy also monitors the treatment and conditions of Nigerians in detention and\/or serving prison terms and promptly responds to complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Lambat, however, said the embassy would inquire from the German Police and other relevant organs on what transpired necessitating the inhuman cuffing of the deportees in the Frankfurt to Lagos flight. Further enquiries would also be made on earlier such treatments which run contrary to the rights of dignified home return. This will inform embassy\u2019s next line of action.<\/p>\n<div class=\"google-auto-placed ap_container\" style=\"text-align:justify\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle adsbygoogle-noablate\"><ins id=\"aswift_8_expand\"><ins id=\"aswift_8_anchor\"><\/ins><\/ins><\/ins>\u201cThe Nigerian government remains committed to the protection of the human rights of its citizens at all times anywhere in the world, including those of the deportees. This remains a sacrosanct duty of the government.\u201d<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Debunking allegations that Nigerian embassy officials connive with the German authorities to deport the migrants, he said: \u201cIt is absurd and unthinkable that a Nigerian diplomat would\/could collude with German authorities to deport Nigerians from Germany.The point is, there are agreements\/protocols that are being adhered to. The whole exercise of interview of asylum seekers is transparently conducted by the German Police and embassy officials. Cases are treated on their merits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cThose bordering on health, marital\/divorce and children custodianship cases are accorded deference until fully settled. It\u2019s only after all the above have been considered by the Joint Team of Embassy and German Police that Emergency Travel Certificates (ETCs) are issued to enable the home bound journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>Our ugly encounter\u00a0 with NIS officials over deportation of migrants \u2013Germany based\u00a0 activist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The co-ordination activist for Network Refugees 4Refugees, a political platform for refugees\/migrant self-organisation based in Stuttgart, Germany, Rex Osa, told The Nation how officials of NIS allegedly harassed him and his colleagues when they moved to assist the deportees. \u201cBefore the arrival of the deportees, we went to the airport to see how we could\u00a0 assist these guys when they were deported. We wrote a letter to the NIS to that effect.\u00a0 One of the officials told us that we could wait for the deportees\u00a0 at the entry gate where they would leave them after their arrival. He said it is\u00a0 after they finish with their profiling work, that we could do our humanitarian work because they would at that point have nothing more to offer them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cHe said as long as they are back, they are on their own.\u00a0 It was really shocking. I was trying to explain to him that some of the people were sick. He didn\u2019t seem to be interested.\u00a0 The only thing he told us was that we could wait for them at the gate to render the help we wanted.\u00a0 He said that\u00a0 if he should find out that we were intercepting their job, then there would be problem.\u00a0 Then I asked him: \u2018What do you mean by intercepting your job?\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cThe next thing he told me was: \u2018don\u2019t you understand English? You don\u2019t understand what interception means?\u2019 I further demanded to know what he meant so that we would not cross our boundary but he didn\u2019t answer again. The next thing he did was to say: \u2018 I thought I have finished with you people\u2019. Indirectly he was telling us to get out from there\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">On that very day those migrants were deported, Rex said: \u201d I saw an ambulance\u00a0 moving towards the arrival.\u00a0 One of the deportees, Mike, told me that they called for ambulance because the immigration refused to take one guy because they said they didn\u2019t want him to die in their hands.\u00a0 At the time the ambulance came,\u00a0 an immigration officer went over to the\u00a0 German police officer in the plane.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cWhen he was coming back, the same NIS officer, who rejected the guy, was the one binging him down from the flight. Who knows what might have happened? \u201c<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">We\u2019ll work with executives to tackle inhuman treatment of deportees- House Committee Chair on Refugee and IDP matters<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on IDPs, Refugees and North-East Initiatives,\u00a0 Hon. Muhammed Umar Jega,\u00a0 has decried the alleged hand and leg cuffing of\u00a0 the deportees by the German authorities, assuring that the committee would work with the executive to stop subsequent acts of inhuman treatment of Nigerians by Germany.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cNigeria\u00a0 has not fared well in ensuring that the people were brought back with dignity. If our citizens could be deported with handcuffs, there was no dignity in that.\u00a0 They should be able to respect the MoU signed with them. We would be engaging the executive on how to ensure that our citizens are treated with dignity by Germany when deporting them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">\u201cIt was inhuman for Germany to hand cuff them inside a plane. Were they going to run away from the plane?\u00a0 That is inhuman treatment that shows no respect for human rights.\u00a0 We should be able to enlighten our own citizens so that even if they want to migrate, they should do so in a much more decent manner. They should not just leave the country like that and go into a derogatory life.\u00a0 It is not the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The lawmaker said\u00a0 the National Commission for Refugees\u00a0 was \u201csupposed to attend to the deportees when they arrived, at least to settle them down and provide some support for them to go back to their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Contacted to know why the commission was not on ground to attend to the deportees, the spokesperson of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFR), Zainab Banu, said the new\u00a0 head has not been\u00a0 given her mandate and cannot yet speak on public issues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><strong>German Embassy in Nigeria delays reply to questions on inhuman treatment of deportees<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">When our correspondent contacted the officer in charge of Legal and Consula Matters in the German Embassy in Nigeria,\u00a0 Hanno Hille, on Monday,\u00a0 for comments on the inhuman treatment allegedly meted out to the deportees,\u00a0 he demanded that the questions should be forwarded to his email as he would not want to speak on such matters on the phone.\u00a0 He immediately sent his email address.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Three days after sending the message, no response has been received from the German Embassy, prompting the reporter to\u00a0 call Hille again to ask him for the response.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Responding, he said:\u00a0 \u201cI have received the email. I have forwarded it to the press department\u00a0 and they are working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">When asked when the response would be ready, he replied: \u201cI can\u2019t say when they would respond because we are in different sections. They are working on it and you will receive a response in due course. That is all I can tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom\">\n<div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"text-align:justify\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thenationonlineng.net\/horrors-of-asylum-seekers-2\/\">Original Report, The nation<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discordant tunes over deportation of Nigerian migrants from Germany Nobody was deported, claims Nigerian Immigration&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugees4refugees.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}