Deportation is revenge, say Kunle campaigners

The Nigerian student whose deportation was deferred last year because he was due to sit his leaving Cert has been told he must…

The Nigerian student whose deportation was deferred last year because he was due to sit his leaving Cert has been told he must now leave the councty.

But supporters of Olunkunle Eluhanla say the deportation order is revenge for the political embarrassment he caused to Justice Minister Michael McDowell at the time of the Nigerian's much publicised plight.

The student was originally deported on a chartered flight last March but Mr McDowell was forced to allow him to return so that he could sit his Leaving Certificate exams, after a huge protest campaign by the student's classmates.

"They say that revenge is a dish best served cold and certainly Michael McDowell did not want to bring Kunle back. But any deportation will be met with the same protests as the last time," said Residents Against Racism spokesman Mark Grehan.

READ MORE

Mr Eluhanla, who is in his early 20s, was allowed to return to Ireland on a six-month student visa.

The Department of Justice sent a letter to him yesterday, which stated it was Mr McDowell's view that allowing him to stay would be contrary to the common good.

It outlined several reasons for the decision including his recent guilty plea to charges of driving without insurance or tax since he returned to Ireland. He also has one previous conviction for a road traffic offence.

Mr Eluhanla can leave the country voluntarily within 15 days, wait until a deportation order is issued or make further representations to Mr McDowell.

He arrived in Ireland as an unaccompanied minor and has said that he has no family or relatives in Nigeria.

The campaign to allow him to return to Ireland attracted support from his classmates in Palmerstown Community College in Dublin and the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.

He was carried shoulder high by classmates when he returned to Dublin Airport last April and professed his desire to stay in Ireland forever.

Residents Against Racism said it would be organising a series of protests against the deportation of Mr Eluhanla.

"He is deeply integrated into the community, as the protests have shown, and we believe that by trying to deport him, Michael McDowell is showing that he doesn't care about any integration in this country," said Mark Grehan.

He said that there was no justification for deporting someone for road traffic offences.

"There's been plenty of people convicted for road traffic offences. It was very foolish of Kunle to have done it and we don't condone what he did, but it's up to the courts in Ireland to decide what the punishment is, not Michael McDowell."