DEPORTATION SAGA : FASHOLA SHEDS MORE LIGHT WITH EVIDENCE

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has offered a more detailed response to his Anambra State counterpart, Peter Obi as controversy raged over the sending home of some indigenes of Anambra.

It was his second response in 24 hours.

Fashola first corrected the exaggerated number of the people involved. He said they were 14 and not 70 or 72 as being circulated.

Second, his response included past letters to the Anambra state Governor, since April, informing him about the plight of the 14 people, who had indicated their desire to return to their home state, after they were rehabilitated at Majidun Rehabilitation Centre.

Fashola said the 14 people were picked up on the steets of Lagos “as part of a continuous exercise to assist vulnerable citizens who roam our streets without food or shelter and a number who have medical ailments, usually in the nature of mental infirmity”.

“They were taken to Majidun Rehabilitation Centre where they treated, detoxified and restored. Thereafter, it was possible for medical and social workers to interview them.

“In the event, they disclosed that they were from Anambra and sought assistance to go back home”, said the letter.

For those who may be thinking that the decision to send the 14 people home was the sole invention of Lagos State Government, Governor Fashola also included a letter from the Akwa Ibom Government to Lagos Ministry of Women Affairs, repatriating two indigenes of Lagos, who were picked up on the streets of Uyo.

It can be recalled that, Governor Obi blasted the Lagos state govenor “Lagos State did not even bother to consult with Anambra State authorities, before deporting 72 persons considered to be of Igbo extraction to Anambra State, is illegal, unconstitutional and a blatant violation of the human rights of these individuals and of the Nigerian Constitution.”

LETTERS BETWEEN LAGOS STATE AND ANAMBRA STATE OFFICIALS BELOW