UAE Arrests, Deports Over 500 Nigerians, Including Legal Immigrants, Allegedly On Tinubu’s Orders

Over 500 Nigerians have been deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reportedly at the request of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, according to multiple sources speaking to West Africa Weekly. The group, which included men, women (some of whom were pregnant), and children, was flown back to Nigeria on a Boeing 787 aircraft sent by the Nigerian government.

The deportees were received at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on Wednesday, September 14 by the a government team made up of officials from the Office of the National Security Adviser, in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and other relevant stakeholders. They were held in a camp for 2 days, after which they were sent home with the sum of N50,000 each.

A source revealed that many deported people were legal immigrants with valid Emirates IDs, who were employed or running legitimate businesses in the UAE. He claimed that the deportees were arrested by the UAE authorities while going about their day-to-day activities on the streets, at their workplaces, and at home.

According to the source, when the detainees questioned their arrests despite having valid documents, the UAE authorities informed them that the Nigerian government had requested their return.

They deported all Nigerians, whether they had documents or not. They even broke into people’s homes and took everyone. Even when they go for operations in places where other Africans live, they take away only the targeted suspects, he said, adding that the deportees were not allowed to take anything from their homes, including their passports.

Now, in the UAE, you cannot come out freely as a Nigerian without being harassed. Currently, we are living like outcasts. Everybody is hiding, he added.

Another source that spoke to West Africa Weekly said he was taken along with his friend, who works in an oil company when he came to visit.

It doesn’t matter if you did anything wrong or not; they took everyone, including food vendors, a top African grocery owner, Taxi drivers, and security agents. We were almost 700. Out of that 700, 600 have valid visas.

He said upon their arrest, they were tied and detained in a cell for 13 days with their phones confiscated.

We were taken to the airport, thinking it was the UAE authorities deporting us. We had no idea it was the Nigerian government that had provided the plane for our deportation.

Another source alleged that UAE authorities drugged the deportees during their detention. “I’m very sick from the treatment we received in the cell. They even put drugs in our food to make us weak. We couldn’t bathe properly,” she said, describing the experience as terrible.

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