UK Govt Plans to Deport Nigerian Convict Who Insists He’s British

Source: THISDAY LIVE

A convicted killer has complained from jail that he will be deported to Nigeria, though he has never been to Africa.

Junior Bayode was 16 when he took part in the mob stabbing of Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, and was given 11 years for manslaughter in 2013.

Bayode, now 22, blasted jail chiefs over the decision to deport him when he is due to be freed in 2019, reported the British-based Mirror newspaper monday.

His mother is from Nigeria but he was born in Germany and came to the UK aged nine months.

He wrote to prisoners’ paper Inside Time from Moorland jail in Doncaster that he is “struggling to understand” why he is being deported. He added: “I may not have been born here but all I know is the British way of life."

Mr. Belamouadden was chased by a gang of around 20 youths from a rival school and stabbed nine times in just 12 seconds in front of shocked commuters in Victoria Underground Station in central London in the attack two years ago.

Five trials took place at the Old Bailey with 17 convictions resulting.

Bayode of Streatham, South London, said the Home Office’s “deport first, appeal later” policy was designed to hit migration targets “regardless of human rights”.

He added: “I have neither travelled nor been to any other country since I arrived in the UK over 20 years ago.

“My past, my present and my future is firmly rooted in British soil, hence why I am struggling to understand why I have been served with a deportation order to a country I have never been to - Nigeria.

“I was distraught when I read on the order that I can only appeal after my deportation.”