Nigerian family fights deportation from Canada

A Nigerian family is currently fighting deportation from North American country, Canada, where they have spent seven years.

News media, CBC News Loaded, in a report said the Makinde family have lived in Ottawa since 2018 and have two Canadian-born children.

According to the report, the Nigerian man, Dapo Makinde, is waiting in jail as he, his wife, Adepeju and one daughter whom they had back in Nigeria face being deported.

READ ALSO: Police to charge man who climbed Abuja mast for suicide

Makinde was detained on June 25, 2024, two days before his family was meant to report for deportation, and is now under arrest at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.

The woman, Adepeju, lamented her husband’s detention as they await deportation from Canada, saying it has been nothing but traumatising.

“The Makindes first came to Canada with their Nigerian-born one-year-old daughter in 2017, crossing over from the United States via Roxham Road in Quebec. They moved to Ottawa in 2018,” the report read.

Adepeju said she and her family had to flee Nigeria due to pressure from her husband’s relatives to perform a genital cutting procedure on their young daughter.

She explained that following their arrival in Canada, they applied for refugee status which was, however, rejected after a hearing.

Adepeju also said that the officials told them they had alternatives to coming to Canada, since they could have left for another part of Nigeria.

“After their appeals were also rejected, the family submitted an application to stay in Canada as permanent residents under humanitarian and compassionate considerations,” Adepeju was quoted as saying.

According to her, though, they have been made to wait for a response for almost three years, since October 2021.

The troubled woman stated that they are yet to receive any written response to date, except officials verbally telling her husband in jail that the application was also turned down.

“The family’s removal from Canada was scheduled in May, and they were required to report for deportation on June 27,” the report added.

“Adepeju said the couple met with officials on June 25 and her husband was asked to remain. She said they detained him while she sat waiting in the car.

“She added that officials cited the family’s lack of preparation to leave Canada, explaining that they haven’t secured passports for their youngest children or sold their house.

“It’s been a very terrible situation,” she said. “I just hope they can at least please release him. He’s not a criminal.”

The post Nigerian family fights deportation from Canada appeared first on Guardian Nigeria News.