Germany: Refugee Committee against deportation Collaboration (Nigerian Embassy)
I had sailed through endless hurdles to this new found land where security was always proclaimed to be guaranteed. Shortly after my presence in this new democracy, expectation started to wither away. fight against one deportation stands against all deportation. A land where you are even scared to say the truth because lies are better believed and accepted.
An asylum interview packaged like a war crime tribunal. Never could I have imagined such institutionalized unfairness and harassment implemented by an Officer who sees himself like God on the judgment day.
It took more than 3 hrs, a question and answer section, rebuke and obstruction from detailed narration of the problems while the case officer’s is only interested on hearing what he wants to hear. Funny enough is, the case office kept saying that I would explain more in court – this confirms a prejudiced rejection already – I couldn’t understand what he meant until after my turns of rejections and appeal.
It baffles me to see how cases are rejected without concrete reasons; Ogboni is a well known cult in Nigeria – but the BAMF sees it as a Yoruba culture which is strange and naïve. Even kids could tell a bit of what it is like with the Ogboni and reports have analyzed its existence and it modus operandi. Bundesamt and its staged managed expert report to favour Germany.
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in 2005 researched about the Ogboni History with emphasis on the structure, rituals and ceremonies also on Membership and consequences for refusing to join. The Interview from the Directorate of research brought together scholars which included an ethnic Nigerian, professors of Anthropology and Political Science who confirmed Ogboni cult to exist also in Benin City and the likely possibility of someone being forced to join the Cult. They also confirmed the incidence of the first son been forced to replace his late father based on the oat made by the father. But the Asylum politics in Germany finds it unacceptable that Ogboni exist in Benin and on another hand that the First son cannot be forced to take over from his father.
How on earth can an innocent and threatened asylum seeker find these points to defend him when the Asylum system of isolating the people is well structured to keep the victims out of information that could stand against the hatred and prejudicing decisions of the responsible asylum case officer?
We are locked up in isolation and exclusion from the normal society, controlled like prisoners with different racist segregating rules and abandoned with no rights even in the eyes of the police as I have practically experienced.
Thanks to the The Voice refugee Forum organized Conference in Stuttgart and its efforts to have broken the silence of isolation and empowerment of refugees’ who could now realize their duties and rights in the asylum application process and opening of broader networking with fellow refugees even up to nationwide level. Exchanges from these contacts have personally informed me on my duty to convince the case officer on my situation – what the asylum authorities tries to shade.
It was now clear to me that there is a totally unfair asylum policy in Germany hence refugees do not need to expect anything positive except they struggle hard for it. I realized then the need to elaborate more on my case against what the Case officers tries to avoid.
It’s been a life of rejection of appeal upon rejection either with or without been personally heard in the court. The reasons for the rejection remains always the same not only to me as a person but every other person connected with such cases.
There is this rejection policy of seeing all the cases as the same rather than considering the individual differences of the personal stories. One major absurdity of the German Asylum Authority’s is the claim that Ogboni is a western Religion and has no connection to Edo State. Internal relocation, the diabolic aspect, hereditary structure, hash penalty for offenders and insecurity of the state remained ignored notwithstanding proofs from international research.
The asylum authorities also claim that Cult issues are not political when it is obviously clear that the political elites who determines and control the politics and security of the land are henchmen in the cult. Even with a UNHCR interview with a top police officer and also published by ACCORD (www.ecoi.net)
The Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has been biased with my application as they have all along ignored my sexuality which should play a major role in my request for security in Germany. Homosexuality has always been a major stigma in Nigeria as some state even punishes with stoning to death, but the Asylum case officers still would not hesitate to confine people to internal relocation within Nigeria.
Notwithstanding the repression we face from this undemocratic democracy, our country embassy has always supported this repressive system through their deportation collaboration business at the expense of refugees. The deportation authority would not hesitate to obtain deportation documents at any cost and trust the corrupt diplomats and their colonial heritage.
Imagine how brutal the conduct of the identification exercise could be, humans brought into the venue like criminal, handcuffed and in some cases escorted with dogs just for the only sin of asking for protection in this civilized democracy. Asylum seekers are then summoned before diplomats who serve the same repressive regime they had fled from.
It has to be categorically made clear that victims should rise up against such collaboration of country embassy like the Nigerian embassy who has sold its reputation to neo colonialism when the failure of the Nigerian State to secure its citizen remains at stake.
Our European wide networking against such collaboration needs solidarity from everyone because the fight against one deportation stands against all deportation.
Nigerian-particularly those who have secured their residence permit and therefore believe that they don't have any problem with the Nigerian Embassy should wake up to reality of re-examining the recent revelation of the illegality of renunciation of their Nigerian Citizenship to obtain German nationality was intended for exploitation by the Embassy Officials.
This abuse of our diplomats should serve as a warning that all hands must be on deck in checking not only the corrupt officials and politicians back home but also their official representatives here.
The more we come together to exposing them, the better chances we have to put them in shame and compel them to retreat.
Support the Network for self organization of the Oppressed and support our Demand of No Deportation, Stop the persecution of refugees
Charles Enoruwa The VOICE Refugee Forum, Baden-Württemberg Committee against deportation Collaboration (Nigerian Embassy)
Email: Charlesbobby94@yahoo.com