Sordid Tales Of Their ‘Deportation’ From Lagos To Onitsha

[Shola Sholaz]

Since the unfortunate incident of deportation of some Igbos from Lagos to Onitsha, old wounds were re- opned over similar incidents that happened in the past.
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The same residents of the commercial city of Onitsha woke up early on Wednesday, July 24, this year, and discovered to their chagrin that 67 persons, majority of whom were of Igbo extraction were deported all the way from Lagos and dumped at almost the same spot at the popular Upper Iweka area of the commercial city.
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On enquiry, the deportees told the residents that they were arrested by the officials of Lagos State Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) from various parts of Lagos, detained in different prison custody for a period ranging from six months to two years and finally deported to Onitsha where they were dumped at about 3.20 a.m.
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As early as 6 a.m., officials of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), led by its South East zonal chairman, Dr. Peter Emeka Katcy arrived the scene and interviewed the deportees one after the other.
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According to the deportees, the KAI officials were instructed to flush out hawkers and beggars out of the state and as such, the KAI officials embarked on indiscriminate arrests and detention of non indigenes of the state, without asking questions.
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According to one of the deportees who gave her name as Rosemary Nathaniel, a native of Ubakala in Umuahia, Abia State, "I was neither a beggar nor a hawker for the past five years I lived in Lagos.
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I was working at a T-shirt weaving center at Mile 2, Lagos and I lived with my sister but in January, this year, the KAI officials arrested me and my friend while we were standing and discussing".