The Nation Newspaper

Tag: returnees

  • We saw hell in Libya, returnees relive ordeals

    We saw hell in Libya, returnees relive ordeals

    A Libyan held many of us on the road and diverted and enslaved us with a condition that we must pay ransom to become free.”

    Responding to a question, Eluor said: “I was doing car wash (Lawaji) to earn cash to pay for my freedom.  After I paid the money, they pushed me and others out. I later came to Tripoli again for jobs to save money to go to Italy but they caught me and I was put in detention.”

    John Anita is from Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. He chose to go to Italy after the death of his father.

    His words: “I didn’t want to suffer after my father died. It was painful bearing his loss because the vacuum was too big to fill. I became desperate for a quick alternative to survive.

    “I was able to make N250, 000 to pay an agent. I traveled from Benin to Abuja, Kano and Tripoli. But, I was caught on the way.”

    Without feeling remorseful, Ziko Ekpeye, 30, from Bayelsa simply said: “I found my way to make life better. I have spent two years looking for money to be able to take care of my three kids.”

    Mother luck was not just on the side of Tina Peters. The Benin, Edo State-born Tina said: “Everything was hard, that is why I came here. I was able to cross the desert to Sabha and Tripoli. But, I was caught on top of the sea. It was painful because I planned the trip to take care of my only brother and three younger ones. I have lost my parents and I wanted to help my family.”

    Ojiase Kevin, 30, who was an artisan in Nigeria, also ran out of luck on the sea.

    He said: “I can make good furniture like those ones they used to bring from Europe but I had no patronage. I wanted to go to Europe to go and learn more. I have spent two years in Libya. I spent six months in Tripoli and one year and four months in Siburata (Sabratha).

    I was not lucky to go Italy. I crossed over to the sea on October 1, 2016 but they caught me on top of the boat. I made another attempt and crossed the sea again on October 1, 2017 but the engine spoilt.

    “I was on the sea near Tunis when the engine spoilt. I spent one hour to enter No Man’s Land but I nearly almost died. It was God who rescued me. We were 142 loaded in the boat which later broke down.”

    Asked of the next move, he said: “I can never come to Libya again, I don’t know Libya and I don’t want to know Libya. They have killed two of my friends. They were shot while escaping. They arrested me and put me in prison, I spent three months without daylight.  Libyans are very wicked and desperate. The Bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked. They hate blacks and treat blacks like animals. They used to arrest blacks and sell them into slavery because of money.”

    Moses Testimony, born in 1985 in Edo State said: “I was sold into slavery in Libya by one Madam Joy who I can identify. I gave her N300, 000 but when I got to Sabha, I discovered that she didn’t pay the agent.

    The agent kidnapped me after serious beating. The Libyan asked me to pay N400, 000 for freedom. The person that rescued me in Sabha was Ben who is an Ishan.  It was my sister and mother that raised N400, 000 to secure my freedom.

    “I did not come to stay in Libya. From Benin, I was traveling to Italy. I am just happy to be back.”

    Blessing Sunday from Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State looked younger than his age.  Sunday, who was born on September 15, 1992 said: “I fell into this trap because I was looking for money to raise my family. We are ten in number. We have lost our dad and we were left with only our mum to take care of the family. The responsibility was much; I couldn’t finish my secondary education. I haven’t stayed up to a year in Libya. Actually, I was arrested on arrival and put in detention centres between March 2016 and last year in Tajoura camp.”

    Drawing much sympathy was Carol Wisdom, who put to bed at Tajoura Detention Centre in Tripoli on December 27, 2017. She was impregnated by a fellow migrant, simply called Wisdom, who has managed to cross by sea to Italy. She said: “I am a stylist from Auchi (Etsako West). I came to hustle, I dey go Italy but I could not make it. I stayed in Siburata (Sabratha). I have spent one year and four months in Libya. I was impregnated by Wisdom who don cross to Italy. I decided to name my baby Testimony because of the hassles I went through. God just gave me a second chance to live.”

    As for Maryam M. Musa from Paiko in Niger State, she admitted, she was a product of bitter divorce. Close to tears, she said: “My parents divorced in 2003 because my mother had twins. I came to Libya in the last eight months to work as a housemaid. I came on my own.”

    Pressed further, she added: “I was staying Ganapoli but luck ran against me one day when I went out to buy biscuits. I was caught and thrown into detention centre in Tajoura.”

    Happy Sunday, who was crying inconsolable and holding on to Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said: “Libya symbolises suffering.”

    When her name was missing from the list of the first batch, she rolled on the floor and said: “Tell President Buhari to help me, I don’t want to stay in Libyan detention centre anymore; I have seen many people dying, it is a hell coming to Libya.”

    Steven Okwudiba Junior said he regretted coming to Libya despite the fact that he has spent one year in the Arab territory.

    He said: “My destination was Europe. I didn’t get to the sea. I was working in Siburata (Sabratha) to save for my trip to Europe but I was arrested when I was going to work.

    “I have since then had unpleasant experience in the hands of Libyans. They are horrible set of human beings. This is a city where everyone understands the language of the guns. Their money is easy to pick up and easy to burn.”

  • Returnees reject N1,000 fares

    Returnees reject N1,000 fares

    •Relatives storm hotel 

    Libya returnees yesterday rejected the N1,000 fares given to them by the Edo State government.

    People yesterday morning stormed the premises of Benin Motel Plaza where the returnees are lodged to look for their relatives. They peeped through the fence.

    A woman, who gave her name as Boss, said she was looking for her brother, Aminu.

    She said she last heard from him in September 2016.

    Another man said he visited the hotel each time he heard Nigerians returned from Libya to search for his daughter.

    The returnees said it was sad that they were still wearing the prison uniforms given to them in Libya.

    They claimed that an announcement by the Federal Government that Nigerians should return home, made Libya policemen to arrest them.

    The returnees alleged that they lost money during the arrest and deportation.

    Efosa Clifford, 43, said he spent over N1.3 million on his failed trip to Europe.

    He said: “Life is good in Libya. But unfortunately, blacks have no free movement.”

    Gabriel Edokpaigbe said it would be a shame for him to go back to his father’s home after he sold his belongings to travel to Europe.

    He said the N1,000 fare would not take him to his destination.

    Christian Otoide, who said he is based in Lagos State, added that he was still wearing a prison uniform “because I have no clothes.”

    He said they were promised many things in Libya and he was forced to join the Federal Government flight, instead of the IOM programme.

    “How will N1,000 take me to Lagos? We were working in Libya, but the police told us that our government said our country is good now.”

     

     

  • Returnees: we saw hell in Libya

    Returnees: we saw hell in Libya

    If they have another chance, they will certainly not venture to go to Libya or Europe again having been lucky to survive their unanticipated ordeal. Many had fallen to baits of likely Eldorado in Libya, Spain, Italy and other European nations.

    A few others attributed their desperation to the desire to end poverty in their families.

    Osaro Victor Bright said he had a dream of ending poverty in his family until the ambition went awry.

    He said: “I was told that traveling abroad is the only way to end poverty in my family. I could not bear living from hands to mouth; I took the risk to go to Italy to hustle.”

    The trip abroad, mostly by school leavers and frustrated artisans, cuts across all ages. But, the ages of the Nigerian returnees range between 18 and 32.

    They confessed they were seeking after short-cut to riches, cool cash and the ego of being-to (the prestige of traveling and living abroad).

    No one was ever in search of knowledge unlike the situation in the 60s, 70s and 80s when Nigerians were in search of the proverbial “Golden Fleece.”

    From Edo, Delta, Lagos and a few Northern states, they joined their colleagues from Niger Republic, Congo and 17 other African countries to bear the deadly risk of crossing Sahara Desert to enter Libya and henceforth, proceed to take a plunge into the Mediterranean Sea to cross to Sicily in the South of the Italian Peninsula.

    Their route is usually the notorious Niger Republic towns of Seguedine and Agadez.

    Statistics from Italy indicates that “more than 36,000 were rescued last year (about 44 per cent above the 2016 figure).

    Some aid agencies estimated that up to 1,000 migrants had died as at April last year. Among them were 150 children. Migrants from Nigeria and Niger Republic were mostly affected.

    Some of the returnees shared their experiences with our correspondent in Libya. Their accounts were not only revealing but absurd and confounding.

    Speaking on his ordeal, Happy Sunday, who became crippled due to inhuman condition in Tajoura Detention Centre said: “Bros, I am from Owa in Delta State, I have lost all. This thing (stroke) just hooked me inside the cell and after a month and a half, I became a different person. I am an iron bender. I was going to Italy to hustle before I was caught by Libyan security agents.”

    Otega Ukulu, who claimed to be a businessman from Delta State, said: “I came to Libya more than a year ago after I paid N300, 000 to a link in Agadez (Niger Republic) to find my way to Sabha. But, on getting to the oasis city, my link sold me to an Arab where I washed toilets to pay up to recoup the money at which he bought me.

    “Later, the Arab man pushed me and 25 others to Tripoli and sold us afresh. It was from Tripoli I escaped and started hustling. This was how my dream to go to Italy crashed.”

    Thirty-nine-year-old Benjamin Eluor from Delta State opted for Italy following inability to secure contracts. He said: “I was doing contracts in Nigeria until I could not secure jobs anymore and there was nobody to help. I, however, sourced N200, 000 which I paid to an agent in Nigeria to go to Tripoli. I got trapped in a place called Hell Fire Ghetto in Philaeni (Fileni) in Libya and I was again asked to pay N300, 000.

    •To be continued

  • Japan extends $1m grant for protection of IDPs, returnees

    The government of Japan has extended Emergency Grant Aid of $1 million (N360 million) for the protection of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Northeast.

    The aid is released to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for “protection and provision of targeted assistance to IDPs and returnees in Northeast”, in response to humanitarian challenges faced by IDPs and returnees in Northeast.

    UNHCR said almost seven million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in the three most affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, adding that vulnerable people were in need of humanitarian intervention, including food, water, sanitation, protection, education, shelter and health services in accessible areas.

    Reacting to humanitarian challenges faced by victims of crisis in Northeast and their host communities, Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Sadanobu Kusaoke, said: “Their living condition is unacceptable to Japan and should be to governments and people of good conscience, hence the need for global joint effort to restore lives and hope to the people of Northeast.”

    The emergency grant aid is expected to contribute to improving sanitation and provision of sanitation materials to reduce health hazard; increase livelihood opportunities in areas of return; provide alternative sources of energy for food preparation; ensure Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugee returnees live safely in camps and make sure protection needs are met.

     

  • Photos: Nigerian returnees from Libya on arrival in Lagos

    Photos: Nigerian returnees from Libya on arrival in Lagos

  • Call for surveillance on Libya returnees

    SIR: Over 200 Nigerians were reportedly repatriated home by Libyan authority recently and this was followed by another report of additional 241 returnees who fled Libya in suspicious circumstances, some with gunshot wounds.

    Any nation with a proactive security concerns would not just send these returnees to their respective states with mere transport fare.

    Report has it that most of them were stranded in Libya after unsuccessful attempts to cross the Mediterranean into Europe.

    First, if the NEMA’s promise to assist them in startup of small businesses is anything to ponder upon, then it befuddles the mind why such initiative had to elude millions of Nigerians until they attempt life threatening adventures.

    Secondly it seems a vacuous attention is being paid to the security dimension to it.

    How can Nigeria’s border be more secure to prevent further unconventional and dangerous trip abroad particularly when the nation is not a war-ravaged country like Syria?

    The unmanageable proportion of our border threshold is not an acceptable excuse. The federal government can partner with neighbouring countries with contiguous geographical border lines on an integrated technology-driven border control.

    More importantly the overweening desperation of Nigerians to leave the shore of the land for an uncertain greener pasture should give the government serious concern.

    It is high time the palliatives embedded in the 2016 budget were implemented without delay.

    Though President Buhari’s government cannot be blamed for the parlous state or the economy having assumed duty barely 13 months ago, the government would not be blameless in perpetuity if it fails to implement budgetary allocations that seek to attenuate the inclemency of the prevailing “technical recession”.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    bukymany@yahoo.com.

  • Boko Haram: NEMA receives 10,000 Cameroon returnees

    Boko Haram: NEMA receives 10,000 Cameroon returnees

    • To evacuate 3,000 Borno residents

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received about 10,000 who fled to Cameroon from communities in Borno and Adamawa states.

    Speaking in Mubi while receiving the returnees, NEMA’s Director General, Alhaji Sani Sidi, said they were forced back after Cameroon closed the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Garoua.

    Sidi informed that they started arriving through the border post in Sahuda, Mubi South after being screened by the Nigerian Immigration Service and the Nigerian Army.

    The returnees, according to him, are part of the 13,800 from the Nigerian Immigration Service at the border post, out of which 650 have been transported to Borno State.

    The rest, he said, are still at Malkohi Internally Displaced Persons camp in Yola, Adamawa state.

    Also, about 3,000 Borno indigenes deported from Cameroon following Boko Haram attacks along the Gamboru axis are to be evacuated to Maiduguri.

    A statement by the zonal information officer of NEMA, Abdulkadir Ibrahim said Sidi and the Deputy Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Zanna Mustapha have already left for Mubi to facilitate the return.

    It reads: “The refugees are presently camped at the border of Nigeria and Cameroun. Over 2,000 IDPs have been transported to safer locations in Mubi while 600 of the refugees have been transported back to Borno.

    “3,000 refugees are still at the border undergoing registration formalities before relocation to Mubi for onward transportation back to Borno.”

  • Ogun PDP to returnees: don’t foment trouble

    Ogun PDP to returnees: don’t foment trouble

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State has warned its members against “re-planting the seed of crisis and division in the party for the purpose of hijacking its structure”.

    In a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Waliu Oladipupo, the party said it was a “veteran of many political battles” in the state and has remained vigilant.

    The statement said: “The state executive committee has not been dissolved. Members are advised to ignore contrary information.

    “Any attempt to tinker with the party structures will not just be an invitation to avoidable lawlessness but also illegal, ultra vires and a direct affront on the judiciary.

    “It is hoped that those who are angling to sow the seeds of discord know the implications of their contrived plot.

    “If they think that they can ride on the back of one powerful man at the national headquarters to trample on the rule of law, we wish to serve them notice that we are ready for them.

    “The Ogun State PDP is a veteran of many political battles. We are not resting on our oars. For us, eternal vigilance is truly the price of freedom.

    “The Adebayo Dayo-led state exco is intact. As we have said severally, the Ogun State PDP exco is peculiar. The executives, from the ward to local government and state levels were not just elected at validly conducted congresses; they were refined through the crucibles of the party constitution and the laws of the land and endorsed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    “They were not just elected but validated by several judicial interventions and pronouncements from the High Court to the Appeal Court.

    “Therefore, given the peculiar circumstances of their emergence, any attempt to tinker with the party structures will not just be an invitation to avoidable lawlessness but also illegal, ultra vires and a direct affront on the judiciary.

    “Various courts, from Ilaro to Lagos and Abuja, and even INEC have since recognised the party structure in the state under the leadership of Adebayo Dayo.”