Written by Agents of the British
There is something ominous about the 1954 UN Convention relating to the status of stateless persons.
In 2005 I published a book titled Conventions on Stateless Persons, Nationality & Passports (ISBN 1-873156-57-X. 5 years later, the Dutch Immigration & Naturalisation Service, acting as agents of the British Home Office, seized me as I returned to Rotterdam after a week’s stay in Switzerland.
They proceeded to lock me up in a Guantanamo style prison ship in Dordrecht, South Holland. They fed me on bread and tea for 3 months. As if that was not bad enough on 22nd June, 2010, they bundled me aboard a KLM –Royal Dutch Airlines against my consent and wish, and without any proper documentation, as in laisser passer, travel document or passport and without disclosing to me the destination to which I was being transported, save a bogus EMERGENCY CERTIFICATE issued by one MARGARET I. IGBINABARO, of the Embassy of Nigeria in The Hague.
Prior to the aforementioned events, I had domiciled for 51 years in the United Kingdom
Protest to Refugee Agency
On being dumped on the Nigerian soil, I naturally protested to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Refugee Agency displayed total indifference. The Refugee Agency did nothing to help me. A staff of the Agency called Owolabi, was a complete waste of time and wasted space within the Agency.
World’s worst outfit
The Nigerian Immigration Service lived up to its reputation of being the world’s worst corrupt outfit. The Nigeria Immigration Service would take money from a dead women for a promise that she would be better in the morning.
The Nigerians rejected my request for a travel document that would have enabled me to return to UK. They also made it clear that I was not entitled to a Nigerian passport, as I did not hold any in the first place.
Embarrassment in the UK
I can understand how embarrassing the whole messy business has become for the British government. I live in a country for 51 years and yet, they used the Dutch to do what can only be described as a dirty business on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government.
Goodluck is not enough
Although Nigeria is now a signatory to the 1954 Convention, Mr. Jonathan could not have understood what he signed.
More than 50,000 There are more than 50,000 stateless persons in Nigeria. The Federal Government has no idea who those people are. There is no one in the National Assembly or in any of the States, willing to locate those people, with a view to returning them to their respective countries.
With all the problems on hand, the future of Mr. Jonathan cannot be guaranteed. He will lose power soonber than later.
Nigeria has no welfare programme for her starving millions and there is no way that Mr. Jonathan’s administration can be described as being competent or capable to meet the needs of the stateless in Nigeria.
The Federal Government owes the stateless important obligations but charity begins at home. The Federal Government does not take care of its citizens and it is therefore, inconceivable to expect the Government to take care of the stateless in the country.
Mr. Jonathan faces drama The Nigeria President is in difficulties. Mr. Goodluck Jonathan is running out of goodluck. He may soon find himself without a state to govern. The Boko Haram menace has exposed Mr. Jonathan as a weakling. He’s not a leader but a follower.
In the 1954 Convention a “stateless person” is defined as “a person who is not recognized as a national by any state under the operation of its laws”.
