Nigerian migrant rights advocate Olukunle Adetunji is facing deportation from Canada despite several attempts to regularise his immigration status and remain with his wife and three children.
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Adetunji, who has had a prolonged immigration battle with Canadian authorities, described his impending removal from the country as “worse than being behind bars.”
According to Canadian media platform CityNews, Adetunji first travelled to Canada in 2012 and later decided to remain in the country. He married his wife, Kimora, in 2014.
He was deported to Nigeria that same year and remained in the country for about two years before allegedly returning to Canada in 2016 through irregular means.
Following his return, Adetunji and his wife decided that he would apply to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds in the hope that the family could live together permanently.
However, he was subsequently arrested by Canadian immigration authorities.
Adetunji was initially detained at Maplehurst Correctional Centre for about a month before being transferred to Lindsay, where he spent several months. He was later moved to another facility in Scarborough and eventually to Toronto’s Immigration Holding Centre.
He was later released from immigration detention while continuing efforts to regularise his status, but Canadian authorities have now reportedly moved to deport him to Nigeria.
Reacting to the development, Adetunji expressed concern about being separated from his three sons, saying he had promised them that he would not leave them.
“I’ve been taken away from my three boys. I made them promise that I’d never leave them. And, for me to break that promise is…I don’t know, I can’t break that promise,” he said.
Adetunji also claimed that he no longer has family ties or accommodation in Nigeria, describing the prospect of being returned to the country as devastating.
“I have no ties with Nigeria. I don’t have a place to stay. It’s like a death sentence,” he said.
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