- Returnees recount ordeal as Germany turns Nigeria into dumping ground for sick citizens
- Authorities defy doctors’ advice, forcibly deport migrants
- Deportee leaks blood from anus, another from private part after surgery in Germany
The Germany Republic is fast turning Nigeria into a sick bay where her sick migrants are dumped. INNOCENT DURU reports that many migrants deported from the European country against doctors’ advice are in critical conditions.
Desmond, a deportee from Germany, bleeds from his anus and writhes in pain. The lower part of his eyes looked puffy and his face visibly pale when our correspondent encountered him.
At intervals, Desmond held his stomach in helpless response to an excruciating pain ravaging his system as he fielded questions from our correspondent.
“Bro,” Desmond interrupted a question from our correspondent, “I can’t wait for you to end this interview. I have endured a pain in my stomach all along.”
But what could have made a hitherto agile young footballer to look so feeble and emasculated?
Desmond provided an answer before the interview ended abruptly. “I did four serious operations in Germany. I did the operations because, according to the doctor, I was having stomach cancer,” he said.
Desmond said in one of the surgical operations carried out on him, his intestines had to be brought out.
He said: “They brought everything out, including my intestines, and I had to live like that for more than one year.
“My intestines were only returned into my stomach after the last operation I did in 2023. I fought cancer for more than four years before I was deported to Nigeria.”
He said that when the deportation flight was about to take off from Dusseldorf Airport on March 19, “the first doctor that checked me told them that I could not endure a six-hour flight because of the operation. But the security men forced me into the plane.”
Desmond said he went through a lot of stress in the plane because he stood for six hours from Dusseldorf Airport to Nigeria.
“I couldn’t sit down because I was bleeding even while we were on the flight. I was bleeding from the anus because I also just did an anus operation,” he said.
Desmond explained that he bled while he was on the plane primarily because he did not take his medication before boarding the flight.
“I told the German officials and they assured me they were going to get me the medications. They said they had a doctor inside the plane who would give me the medications.
“But when I requested for medications while I was having pain, they did not give me any. They told me they could not get the medications at the moment and assured me that when we get to Nigeria, they would give me the medications.
“That was when I started bleeding from the point of operation in my anus.”
While undergoing the initial operation, Desmond said, “they blocked my anus area and I was excreting faeces from the stomach.”
Sadly, Desmond’s health condition has deteriorated since he was deported last month. “I have been bleeding since I came back. Sometimes I bleed from the anus. I have stomach pain because of the bleeding.
“I feel stomach pain all the time. Every night, I suffer pains. When I wake up, I have pains. Every time, I have pains.
“Sometimes I just go into the bathroom to relax a bit then I wash myself.
“Bleeding sometimes affects my breath. When I lose a lot of blood, I breathe very fast. Then I have to sit somewhere or look for a cool place to sit or lie down so that I can regain strength.”
He said that when he told immigration officials in Nigeria about his predicament, “they told me that was not a problem; that they were going to take care of that but they never did.”
Desmond’s condition is worsened by the fact that he hardly eats well; not because he lacks appetite but because “my doctor in Germany said that I am not allowed to eat without taking medication. I don’t have much of that so I don’t eat often my brother.”
Continuing, he said: “I am still taking the medications given to me in Germany. When it finishes, how will I get another one? That is my fear.
“That is why I said I am confused. I think in this condition, I cannot survive here in Nigeria.”
In spite of what he was passing through, Desmond said his family members were not aware that he had been deported.
He said: “I have not contacted them. First of all, I don’t know where to start from. After living abroad for years, I don’t even know what to say to them.
“They know I was not feeling fine, but coming to Nigeria in this condition, I don’t think it is healthy.
“If I go back to my parents, they can’t even help me with medications. That is why I said I am confused. I don’t know what to do, to be honest.”
Added to his sadness is the fact that he does not even have a place to sleep. “The place where we live now, we don’t even know how long we would be allowed to stay here.
“If they ask us right now to leave this place, I swear to God, all of us, we are going to be on the streets.
“My condition is giving me depression and sleepless nights.”
Ogbo bleeds from private part
A female deportee who gave her name simply as Ogbo shares a similar fate with Desmond. She bled for over a month from her private part following complications arising from the surgery she had in Germany.
The surgery, according to her, was carried out less than two months after she arrived in Germany from Italy.
“Initially, the doctors said it was hernia. But when I opened my eyes after the operation, they had opened my stomach from down to my chest region,” she said.
She added that alarmed by what she saw, “I asked the doctor why this big surgery, because this was not our agreement. He said there was a complication during the surgery and they had to cut my small intestine by about 10 metres and join it somewhere.”
Ogbo said since the surgery, she had been having severe complications.
She said: “I started having stomach ache all the time. I could not go to the toilet. I could stay for four to five days without going to the toilet.
“Whenever I reported to the doctor, they would flush my body and put something in my anus for me to go to the toilet. I would be in the hospital from morning till evening.”
Ogbo said the pain had assumed a worrisome dimension since she came back, “and I almost passed out at a point.
“My body swelled up three days after I came back. If not for God that sent a woman that helped me with native treatment, I would have been forgotten by now.”
She added: “I still don’t go to the toilet very well up till now. At times, if my system gets stuck, my stomach will just swell up and it will be paining me.
There are certain kinds of food I cannot eat now. If there’s too much oil in a food, I will not be able to eat it. If I do, my stomach will swell up.”
As a result of the complications, Ogbo said she had developed challenges in her left eye.
“I can’t see clearly with it,” she said.
“For over a month, I was bleeding severely. I bled from my private part. It began after the eye challenge started.
“Whenever I bend down to pee, blood will just be pouring out. I almost passed out this time too.”
To guard against losing her troubled eye, Ogbo went for a check-up in a hospital but was shocked by what she was told.
“They said it was cataract. Alarmed by this, I said this just happened not up to two months. How can cataract just grow and they want to do surgery?
“If you look at my eyes, you will not see anything. I was asked to pay over N200,000 for treatment but I ran away.”
With the help of her pastor, Ogbo went to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) where the doctors examined her but didn’t know the cause of her problem.
“They referred me to another section where I was checked and found I could not identify colours, but they could not spot the cause either.
“They asked me to do different tests for them to know the cause.
“At the moment, I am having pains from my waist down to the left side of my leg. At times my leg will swell up.”
Like Desmond, doctors also advised against Ogbo’s deportation on health grounds, but immigration officials turned deaf ears to the report.
“I have a doctor’s report that said I should not be deported because of my medical issues. They saw it,” she said.
Deportee risks losing eye
Ikenna, a fair complexioned deportee has been struggling to no avail to get a replacement for the artificial eye he got in Germany.
He is supposed to replace the eye every two years. Unfortunately, none of the hospitals he has visited in Nigeria so far has such capacity.
“My eye has been disturbing me so much since I came back to Nigeria. An operation was carried out on my eye in Germany. After two weeks they fixed an artificial one for me.
“In Germany, the doctor said the artificial eye would only last for two years after which I have to remove it and put a new one.
“After two years, I went back to the hospital and they removed it and put a new one.
“They changed it more than two times or three times in Deutschland before my deportation.”
Since arriving in Nigeria, Ikenna said, he has not changed the artificial eye.
“I have tried to see if they can bring a new one from Germany, but no way. I went to a hospital in Ondo State but they couldn’t do it. I have gone to two hospitals here in Lagos without any luck.
“Only one hospital here in Lagos has been helping me to manage the eye, but they said they cannot get a replacement. All they do is just to manage it. Doctor removes, cleans and puts it back.
“They check if it has a problem or not. But they cannot bring a new one for me.”
Because he has not had the eye replaced for some time, Ikenna said he does not see well with the artificial eye.
“Sometimes it affects my body system. Sometimes I cannot see clearly. When the sun is too much, I cannot see clearly. It has been traumatising,” he said.
Aside from his sight challenge, Ikenna also has difficulty emptying his bowel, and it all started in Germany.
He said: “Sometimes, for a month or so, I would not go to the toilet. I don’t know why.
“When it started, I went to a hospital in Germany where a test was carried out on me. Nothing was diagnosed at the end, but a doctor gave me medication to relieve the problem.
“If I take the medicine in the evening, I will go to toilet before dawn.
“I went to pharmacy here in Nigeria and got the tablets but I don’t have the means to buy them. I only get it whenever I get financial help from anyone.”
German police brutality predisposes Bright to epilepsy
A joyful journey to Germany also ended on a sour note for Bright. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the European country, although he was already having sleepless nights in Nigeria before he travelled.
His condition was aggravated on November 7, 2023 when some German policemen burst into his room.
He said: “After getting a report from my doctor that my situation was very serious and that they should not touch me, they came into my room and started beating me. They tied me like a chicken and bundled me to the airport.
“At the airport, they tried to force me into the plane but a doctor frowned at their action. He told them that I was sick and should be taken to the hospital.
“Because of that, they could not deport me at that time.”
He said in the course of trying to force him into the plane, “they hit my head on the floor relentlessly and I started having issues in my head. Thereafter, they told me to go to a neurologist.
“When the neurologist checked my head, he advised that I had to be taking epilepsy medicine too to prevent it from developing. So I started taking medicine for schizophrenia and epilepsy.”
After that experience, the German authorities defied every warning and returned Bright alongside other compatriots on January 22, 2025. Bright said his flight back home was a horrific experience.
He said: “They put iron-like thing over my head.
“The doctor would hold epilepsy medicine and stay close to me. He would put one inside my mouth and fix back the iron.
“The iron started igniting pain on my neck and I would be crying while they would be laughing at me.”
His situation took a more worrisome twist on arriving in Nigeria.
Airport officials were seen lamenting some of the deportees’ near death appearances in a video obtained by our correspondent. In one of the videos, deportee was seen lying on a stretcher in a bus with Federal Ministry of Health written on it.
“Make dem carry am go back (let them just take him back),” an airport official was heard screaming in the background.
“Wetin we go do now (what do we do now)?” another said in apprehension as they ran around to revive another deportee suspected to be Bright.
Recounting his ordeal, Bright said: “At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, I was begging them to remove the iron but they refused. They said I would breathe when I got down from the plane.
“When we landed, some airport officials saw what they were doing to me but said nothing.
“Nigerian immigration officials were making videos as they were bringing me out. That was the last thing I could remember at that point.”
On regaining consciousness, Bright discovered that he was in an ambulance. “They said I should be taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
“As we were going, one woman held the drip fixed to my body. I was told that it was the Germans that fixed it.
“LASUTH demanded payment before they would treat me, but because nobody wanted to pay, they abandoned me there.
“I was subsequently taken back to the airport and dumped there.
“One man later came and started helping me. He said he was working for FAAN.
“The man got a nurse to remove the drip but she refused because she was not the one who fixed it.
“It was in the midnight when I was on the floor that the nurse came and said a doctor asked her to remove the drip.
“By that time, there was blood all over my body and the drip.”
He added: “I was given N10,000 from the comptroller general the following day. They also bought food and MTN SIM card for me.
“Later, someone helped me to travel to Benin.”
Deportation can’t be enforced in circumstances of life threatening health situation – Activist
A Nigerian activist resident in Germany, Rex Osa, in a chat with our correspondent decried the deportation of sick people by the European country.
Rex, who has been actively engaging in monitoring deportation from Germany to Nigeria said Germany is always at the forefront of setting up rules and at the same time known to ignore its own obligation.
“Based on legal provisions, deportation cannot be enforced in circumstances of life threatening health conditions otherwise deportation to a destination with neither a good medical facility alongside guaranteed financial capability to treat the condition. We have continued to experience Germany’s desperate violation as people are even smuggled from the hospital beds, psychiatric homes to be deported to Nigeria.
“Worse still is that their medical reports are not made available even the violence and induced medications onboard are not communicated to the Nigerian authorities. These brutal deportation operations render returning Nigerians as destitute and as such highly vulnerable.”
With the continued and unchecked abuses meted out to Nigerian migrants, especially during deportation enforcement to Nigeria, Rex said there is the need to question the commitment of NCFMRI, NIDO, NHRC and other migration affiliated agencies in the country.
He noted that over the past six years, there have been trending reports and testimonies of massive violence and violation of rights by German authorities in desperation to deport Nigerians against all odds.
“The Nigerian immigration personnel, the Nigerian Police and those other agencies engaging at the deportation arrival in Lagos could attest to the traumatic and frustrating situation of deported persons even with complicated and severe and life threatening health challenges.
“Many of these persons, including children, are medical certified unfit to fly and warranting further/ uninterrupted medical follow-up in the hospital with their medical history in Germany.”
According to him, these health challenges range from “severe autism and other related cases with children, schizophrenia and other related psychological and neurological issues, kidney and other organ issues, severe fractures with temporarily implanted metal strip that needed to be removed at a targeted period of time.
“One can recount how often the DERS intervention has saved many from thoughts of committing suicide after being abandoned outside the airport Premises on their arrival.
“One would wonder why Nigeria has continued to take the lead as major deportation destination even when Nigeria is not on the top 10 list of migrant/refugee country of origin.
“Aside from the government obligation to protect and defend the rights of its citizens, the Nigerian government must not ignore the likely implications of vulnerability with forced returnees as they are usually left stranded with virtually nothing, considering the economic hardship and its adverse impact on the increasing insecurity in the country.”
Poor notification hampering our response – NCFRMI
National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) has blamed improper notification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its inability to sometimes respond promptly when the citizens are deported.
The commission’s Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Alex Oturu, disclosed this in his response to our enquiry.
His words: “The Commission is expected to be notified of migrants’ return flights by the responsible body. For voluntary returns, this notification should come from the sending agency, such as IOM or other civil society organizations involved in the return process.
“For forced returns or deportations, the notification should be provided by the sending mission (Nigerian Mission/MFA) or the country of return. However, this process is not always followed, and some deportation flights occur without proper notification. The purpose of notifying the Commission is to enable the Commission to facilitate coordination with relevant stakeholders to ensure a humane reception for returnees. When notifications are delayed or absent, mobilizing the necessary actors to provide essential assistance—such as medical services, dignity packs, and other support—becomes challenging.”
Nevertheless, he said, even with short notice, the Commission’s staff are always present to profile returnees and link them to reintegration programs implemented by the Commission and its partners.
Making reference to the deportation flight involving Bright, he said: “Regarding this particular flight, the Commission was notified only a day before the return, which was insufficient time to mobilise some key stakeholders. Notably, Port Health was unavailable due to previously scheduled assignments to assess medical cases among the returnees.
“Those who consented to profiling by NCFRMI staff were registered and provided with relevant information on accessing further support from our partners. However, the Commission is working on referrals for those who have contacted the commission.
The Nigeria Immigration Service was yet to respond to our inquiry as at the time of filing this report.
The spokesman, Akinlabi Akinsola, was yet to make good his promise to respond to our enquiry before press time.
Returnees are always in good health- German Embassy
Responding to our enquiry, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany said it was not aware of any incidents that might have occurred during recent flights.
The Third Secretary, Dorothea Wenzel, in the response said: “According to our information, all returnees were in good health. Flights are always accompanied by a medical doctor and other medical professionals. Before departure, passengers undergo a medical check.”
