UK threatens to deport disabled Nigerian who failed to regularise his papers
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Anthony Olubunmi George, a Nigerian who has lived in the United Kingdom for 38 years, is being threatened with deportation by the Home Office, even though he has not travelled out of the country in all those years and has no criminal record.
George, 61, went to the UK at the age of 24 in 1986. In 2019, he had two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility, according to reporting by the Guardian (UK).
The newspaper has also reported on the case of a Ghananian, Nelson Shardey, 74, a newsagent from Merseyside who has lived in the UK since 1977 and was refused indefinite leave to remain by the Home Office despite being in the country for most of his adult life and is married to a British woman with two children.
Both cases are somewhat similar to those of the Windrush generation comprising individuals who migrated to the UK from Commonwealth countries between 1948 and 1973, but many of who, despite legal entitlement to stay, faced job losses, denial of services and removal because they were not documented immigrants.
Many of those caught up in the Windrush scandal were deported to the Caribbean, and only a few were later allowed to return to the UK after they had lost jobs and homes as well as some social services.
When George arrived the UK in 1986, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and Rishi Sunak is the ninth to hold office since George has lived in the UK. He has endured many periods of homelessness and says he has lost count of the number of friends who have given him shelter over the years. He says he no longer has any close family in Nigeria.
George has made various applications for leave to remain in the UK, which the Home Office has rejected, most recently on 7 May.
In 2005, his previous solicitors submitted a forged entry stamp in his passport and have subsequently been reported to the police and the legal regulatory bodies.
George told the Guardian he knew nothing about the passport stamp until many years later. His current lawyer, Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors, cited his poor previous legal representation as the reason for George’s problems. In his most recent refusal, Home Office officials said: “Unfortunately this is not something that is considered an exceptional circumstance.”
Kandiah has lodged an appeal against the latest refusal.
A previous Home Office rejection of his case states: “It’s open to your family and friends to visit you in Nigeria.”
George said: “I don’t know how many different sofas I’ve slept on – too many to count. I don’t have my life, living the way I’m living now. My health problems since I had my stroke are my biggest worry. All I’m asking for is some kindness from the Home Office.”
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