In Reply to: McDowell is just enforcing the law posted by Yeah right on March 23, 2005 at 20:06:26:

Six Nigerian children in hiding in Athlone

25 March 2005 14:11
Six Nigerian children, who are wanted by the Garda Immigration Bureau for a deportation order, are still in hiding in the midlands, ten days after gardaí searched a school there.

Staff at Our Lady's Bower secondary college in Athlone have said students were left in uproar after the gardaí stormed into a classroom looking for a Nigerian girl.

An appeal has also been made for the girl's mother and another Nigerian woman to be allowed return to Ireland after she was deported on the same day. The two were deported to Lagos last week.

The calls come in the light of Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's decision to bring back Olukunle Elukanlo to sit his Leaving Cert.

Two Athlone-based Nigerian families were broken up when mothers Elizabeth Odunsi and Iyabo Nwanze were among 35 people deported to Nigeria on 14 March.

The two women each brought one of their children with them, but their other children were left behind.

Ms Nwanze's son Emmanuel (8), and Ms Odunsi's children Mabajoye (18), Oluwaseun (14), and Olwasegun (11), are all in hiding in the midlands to avoid deportation.

The women had been rearing the children on their own.

A campaign has been launched to bring back Ms Odunsi and Ms Nwanze to their families.

• http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0325/deportation.html