Seventy six persons of Igbo origin have sued the Lagos state government, demanding a N1billion over their deportation from the state, sighting a breach of their rights and seeking for mandatory accommodation and re-absorption by the state.
The Nation reports that the Joseph Aniebonam, Osondu Mbuto, Osondu Agwu, Nnenna Ogbonna, Emily Okoroariri, Friday Ndukwu and Onyeka Ugwa, seven of the seventy-six sued for themselves and others, accusing the government of deporting, dumping and abandoning them at Onitsha, Anambra on Wednesday, July 24, 2013.
The plaintiffs, who were represented by their lawyer, Leo Nbu also demanded that the government apologize to them in three newspapers for thirty consecutive days. The attorney general of Lagos sate, Ade Ipaye and the commissioner of police were also joined in the suit as respondents. The state was represented by Olubola Ainsete.
Deputy director in the office of the special assistant to the Lagos government on youth and social development, Olabode Ajao debinked the claims of the plaintiffs, saying on the contrary the state had catered for the as is the custom of the state government by feeding and housing them for three months after they were found living under bridges and by roadsides, begging and engaging in several delinquent acts.
He said: “The applicants were fed proper and nutritious meals and given adequate treatment by the medical corps at the centre,” claiming that the government also put the applicants through a skill acquisition program, after which their various state governments were informed of the need to unite them with their families.
“After three months without any response from the Anambra State government, the respondents decided to assist in getting them back to their state.
“During my interaction with the applicants, they decided that they would find their way to their families from Onitsha, and this necessitated their transportation to ABC Motor Park, Onitsha.”
The states counsel further disclosed that the applicants had already filed like suits in the Awka division of the federal high court and at the Lagos high court, Ikeja, demanding N10 million damages in both cases with two other like cases at the federal high court in Lagos.
One of the applicants, Ugwa, a native of Orlu in Imo state said he had been living in Lagos for five years and sold books at Okokomaiko., claiming he was arrested by Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officials in January 2013 and taken to a rehabilitation center in Oshodi were he was allegedly dumped and abandoned.
Ugwa said: “We were treated like animals; people were dying around me daily.”
He said he and other Igbos were bundled into a bus on Tuesday, October 23, 2014, travelling through the night and were “offloaded like logs of wood” at Upper Iweka in Anambra the following day.
He further stated that the Red Cross took care of them, as all their had worked for and achieved in Lagos were taken from them
Although he admitted that some of them were beggars, majority of them had jobs.
“I am not a destitute and I fend for myself,” he said,.
Justice Rita Ajumogobia whpo presided over the case adjourned until Tuesday, February 10, 2014.
