Two Nigerian USIU students and a Kenyan woman have moved to the High court seeking orders to block their deportation for being in the country illegally.
Through lawyer Charles Midenga, Olamilekan Gbenga, Oluwaseyi Richard and Euphrasia Atieno want the court to quash a decision by the director of Immigration services purporting to vary Gbenga and Oluwaseyi’s Pass to deport them on September 8, 2017.
Midenga also wants the court to quash immigration’s decision in placing Gbenga and Oluwaseyi on the immigration watch list communicated to them verbally on various dates to wit, November 14, 2017, January 23 and March 19, 2018.
He wants the court to compel the director of immigration to remove the two from its ‘watch list’.
In the application, the students say that they are students currently pursuing degree courses in international business administration and have been in the country on a student’s pass which was issued on March 29, 2017, for one year and were to expire on March 20, this year.
They claim the immigration office has purported to deport them to Nigeria without an arrest warrant or deportation order or any order from the CS ministry of interior and coordination declaring them to be prohibited persons nor were they informed of the reasons for deportation.
“While so doing, the applicants were neither allowed an opportunity to be heard nor legal representation as their attempts to seek legal representation were thwarted by the arresting officers who seized their mobile phones and their motor vehicle”, Lawyer Midenga says.
They also allege that the director of the immigration department unreasonably and without any tinge of guilty demanded Sh200, 000 to enable him to release the vehicle to Atieno who is Gbenga’s wife.
Their removal was unprocedural, arbitrary, and unreasonable made in bad faith as it violated their rights to administrative action.
“The 1st and 2nd applicants impugned deportation has gravely affected their studies and occasioned great economic hardship, anguish and emotional distress to their families”, they claim.
The two also say they have been unfairly denied the opportunity to attend classes which are ongoing in contrast to the obligations bestowed on them as students.
The case will be heard tomorrow for inter-party hearing.