About 300 Nigerians living in the Republic of Botswana have been deported back to Nigeria by the Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama administration in the past few months following refusal of the authorities to renew their permits.
Perturbed by their plight, the deportees have called on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to quickly look into the relationship between Bostwana and Nigeria in order to ascertain the true conditions of Nigerians living in that country.
The deportees, who said most of them had lived and worked in that Southern African country alleged that since General Khama, whose mother was of British origin and father a Motswana assumed office, Nigerians in that country had been subjected to dehumanising conditions and racial abuse even when they claimed they had been law-abiding and of good behavior.
Narrating their ordeal, Mr. Kingsley Ndubuisi from Anambra State, who returned to the country without his belongings in September, this year, alleged that all Nigerians whose permits expired were forcefully, deported leaving their property, wives and children behind.
“The most annoying of all the troubles Nigerians are facing in that country is the incessant stamping of (PI), meaning Prohibited Immigrant on the passport of Nigerian nationals by the Bostwana authorities; the implication is that such a person cannot enter Bostwana again,”Ndubuisi said.
No fewer than 300 Nigerians living in the Republic of Botswana have been deported to Nigeria in the past few months after the authorities refused to renew their permits. The angry deportees wantPresident Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to quickly look into the relation between Bostwana and Nigeria in order to ascertain the true conditions of Nigerians living in that country.
The deportees, most of whom had lived and worked in the Southern African country, said since Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, assumed office, Nigerians living in Bostwana had been subjected to dehumanising conditions and racial abuses.
Alleging that Gen. Khama planned to get rid of innocent Nigerians doing genuine businesses in Bostwana, efforts to make the country’s authorities understand that they were peace-loving and not interested in criminal activities fell on deaf ears.
“The Bostwana Government was only interested in sending us out without any reason”, they said. Speaking on the ordeals of Nigerians in the hands of the Botswana officials, Mr. Kingsley Ndubuisi, an indigene of Anambra State, who returned to the country without his belongings in September, said all Nigerians whose permits expired were forcefully deported, leaving their property, wives and children behind.
“The most annoying of all the troubles Nigerians are facing in Bostwana is the incessant stamping of PI, meaning Prohibited Immigrant on the passport of Nigerians by the Bostwana authorities. The implication is that such a person cannot enter that country again”, Ndubuisi said.
He said some of the victims of the “flush Nigerians policy” were doctors, pharmacists and businessmen. Ndubuisi claimed that all these Nigerians were escorted to the airport in handcuff and leg chains like criminals.
-National Mirror
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