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Terrified family face deportation
A DEPORTATION-threatened family who found a new home in Wigan say they face death if they are sent home to Nigeria.
Maryam Oderinde fears for her life and those of her four sons after the Home Office told her they don't have just grounds for asylum.
The terrified family has now turned to Hindley councillor Jim Talbot who has appealed to the Home Office to grant them the right to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds.
Her late husband's family have said they will kill the boys should they return to Africa.
The 38-year-old said: "We cannot go back there now because I know that my children will not survive."
Maryam arrived in the UK from Nigeria in November 2002 accompanied by her youngest son, Fawaz, fleeing ritual killing and persecution.
Her father-in-law, Mulikai Oderinde, was once the king of a local tribe in the city of Aduge.
In respect of their cultural heritage when the king died Maryam's husband, Taofik, was told that one his of sons would have to be ritually sacrificed.
He ran away with three of their children, Abidun, Owolabe and Aseez, to the city of Ibadan, while Maryam and Fawaz came to Britain.
When Maryam's husband was killed Abidun, Owolabe and Aseez effectively became orphans, were forced into slavery and were caught up in the race riots which rocked the country.
Maryam was desperate to be reunited with her other three sons and they arrived in the UK in 2004 accompanied by a friend of her dead husband.
Abidun, 17, is currently studying at Wigan and Leigh College, while Owolabe, 15, and Aseez, 13, are at Hindley High School and seven-year-old Fawaz is at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary in Beech Hill.
She said: "When I came here I did not apply for asylum because I did not know how to or that I even should."
The Home office refused her asylum and sent her and her children to a detention centre for three months.
She was given bail but now knows that unless the Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas, can grant them the right to live in the UK her time here will come to an end.
Coun Talbot said: "We currently have a solicitor looking at the deportation order Maryam has been given.
"Her family are settled her in England and are desperate not to go back to Nigeria where their lives would be in danger."
To drum up support for Maryam Coun Talbot has organised a public meeting taking place at St Peter's Church, Hindley, on the corner of Wigan Road and Atherton Road, starting at 7.30pm tonight (wed).
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "We are proud of our tradition of providing asylum to individuals who genuinely face persecution if they return home.
"We consider every case with enormous care.
"But where an individual has been found by us and the courts to have no grounds to stay in the UK it is our responsibility to uphold that decision and remove them.
"We encourage those that the courts have found do not qualify for asylum or for humanitarian protection leave the UK voluntarily, taking advantage of reintegration assistance tailored to their individual needs."
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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