A final desperate attempt to prevent British authorities from deporting Nigerians charged with immigration-related offences failed on Tuesday, it has emerged.
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) confirmed on Wednesday that 48 people arrived Lagos after their deportation from the United Kingdom.
Two people reportedly glued themselves to the gates of an immigration detention centre near Heathrow Airport on Tuesday in a bid to stop a deportation flight leaving the UK.
Campaign group Unity Centre said 10 activists had joined the protest at Colnbrook immigration removal centre, in an attempt to block a bus carrying detainees from leaving.
The passengers were scheduled to depart for Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone at 10.30pm on Tuesday, the group said.
Police were at the scene on Tuesday evening for around five and a half hours although no arrests were made, and London Fire Brigade also sent a fire engine to the scene.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said: “There were a small number of demonstrators in attendance at the immigration centre who had been there since 5.30pm.
“We were on the scene with the fire brigade in a monitoring role and there have been no arrests.”
NIS Spokesman, Ekpedeme King, told Punch on Wednesday that 48 Nigerians were eventually deported.
“Some of them have overstayed their visa,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The BBC however reported UK officials as saying a total of 46 Nigerians were deported – not about 500 as initially speculated.
“Such deportations were regular events, happening almost every month,” the officials said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) put the number of the affected persons at 50 – 44 males and six females.
It said they were flown into Nigeria at about 6:30am in a chartered B767 aircraft belonging to PITAN Airways.
Immigration officials reportedly received and screened them at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
A source at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) told NAN that some of the deportees called their friends and relations to pick them up, while others secured cabs to take them to their various destinations.
According to the source, those alleged to have committed criminal offences, were handed over to officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The source noted that FAAN was expecting about 500 deportees, saying that this is the first batch.
