ABOUT 100 Nigerians, including women and children, even immediate family members, were deported from Finland yesterday after seeking asylum in Europe.
The asylum seekers arrived the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos at 7a.m in a cargo airline called Privilege Gourment.
However, a deportee, Mr. Isaac Ejiofor, told The Guardian that they had no criminal records in Finland and wondered why he should be deported after spending over a year in their asylum camp. Ejiofor said he was earlier in Greece but went to Finland to seek asylum to enable him get documents to work in the country.
“The policeman asked me what I wanted since I had no criminal record to warrant my deportation,” he disclosed. “I said I wanted to work and live a normal life in Finland, so he told me to seek asylum and I did.
“I was taken to the asylum camp and was there for over a year processing documents that will permit me to work; there were other African nationals there, with four Nigerians. Suddenly, we the Nigerians were brought out and deported without committing any offence.”
According to him, the Nigerian Embassy in Finland refused to come to their aid after they had paid 1,500 euro to the embassy officials.
Another deportee, simply called Jackso, told The Guardian that the Nigerian Embassy officials in Finland colluded with some Finnish Immigration authorities to extort money from asylum seekers in the camp, promising to assist them get work permit from the country’s authorities.
Similarly, a female deportee simply called Esther said she and her husband had been in Finland for over 14 years but was surprised that they were deported, alongside their seven-year-old daughter without committing any offence and without any compensation.
Esther disclosed that other Africans in the camp were given opportunity to stay and work in Finland but that the Finnish authorities were hostile to Nigerians. She appealed to the Federal Government to come to their aid, particularly of Nigerians in Finland and other European nations.
According to her, most Nigerians at the asylum camp came from other European countries like Greece, Denmark, Sweden and Norway in order to get work documents.
However, The Guardian learnt that three men among the deportees were arrested for violence and taken to the police station at the MMIA, while some others have been taken to Alagbon for travel offences.
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