70 people deported from Lagos to Onitsha

The Lagos State government were said to have
deported about 70 people to the commercial city
of Onitsha yesterday.
Escorted by a police patrol van and heavily
armed police men the deportees were described
as a mixed range of people from those who
showed signs of mental illness to those who said
they had been in detention for many years
before finally released and put on a one way
trailer to Onitsha.
Some other reports claim they were beggars and
homeless people who had being detained in
Ikorodu, Lagos, for over six months for alleged
wandering and other minor offences by the
Lagos State Kick Against Indiscipline officials.
There were some who couldn’t even speak the
native language and reports claim that it was
the second time such human cargo was brought
into Onitsha.
According to reports, the trailer dropped them
of at the Upper Iweka flyover at about 3.20am,
made a U–turn and returned to Lagos.
The Chairman of Nigeria Red Cross Society in
the South-East, Peter Katchy
reportedly condemned the actions by the Lagos
State authorities.
“It’s very deplorable; it’s very disheartening that
a state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria will
bundle people, who are not even indigenes of
Anambra State, and dump them under the
flyover at Upper Iweka in Onitsha,” he said.
“Many of the people, we have interviewed are
not indigenes of Anambra State. Some of them
are from Ebonyi State; some are from Imo State
among other states.
“It is an insult to Anambra State. We shall draw
the attention of the governor of Anambra State
to ask the reason for such an invasion of his
territory.
“We will find out why Lagos State should invade
Anambra State territory; and why Lagos State
should dump people here and leave them
helpless.
“We are here on humanitarian purposes and in
response to an emergency. From what we
discovered here, this is a human emergency and
a human callousness.”