Hunger-striker among six deported

The Irish State does not want the Irish-born children of failed asylum-seekers, the wife of a Nigerian national deported yesterday has said.

Ms Omo Ayinde, whose husband, Mr Alabi Ayinde, was one of six failed asylum applicants returned by immigration gardaí to Nigeria yesterday morning, said she would have to go back to that country now. She would bring their children, one of whom is an Irish citizen, with her, she said.

Meanwhile, the Irish Refugee Council has said serious questions must be answered about the methods used to deport failed asylum-seekers, following details of the deportations.

Mr Ayinde, who was being held at Mountjoy Prison since he failed in his High Court appeal against the deportation two weeks ago, entered the 15th day of a hunger-strike yesterday morning.

In an interview with The Irish Times at the prison on Wednesday, Mr Ayinde appeared very weak. He was unable to walk without gripping either the wall or furniture. He said his eyesight was failing and his eyes were painful.

He was being visited daily by the prison doctor who, he said, had wanted to transfer him to the prison's medical wing. He was reluctant to move, however, fearing he would be deported while medicated.

A spokesman for the Garda National Immigration Bureau confirmed Mr Ayinde had been picked up with five other failed asylum applicants at the prison at about 6 a.m. to board a jet bound for Lagos at 9 a.m. The aircraft was chartered by the Department of Justice at a cost of approximately €30,000.

The aircraft had to be chartered, he said, because previous attempts to send Mr Ayinde and others back to Nigeria on scheduled flights had been unsuccessful.

"That jet was chartered because those individuals' behaviour had been so unruly and so disorderly, and they had caused all kinds of problems for us and airliners when we tried to send them home before," he said.

Upon arriving in Lagos they would be handed over to the Nigerian authorities, he confirmed. Mr Ayinde, a former political science student, had been engaged in anti-government protests before fleeing Nigeria.

Mrs Ayinde, who is four months pregnant with the couple's third child, said yesterday she was told of her husband's deportation by a journalist shortly before lunchtime.

"I went up to see my husband this morning, and they told me they could not find him, he was busy. So I said 'OK, I'll come back in the afternoon'."

Yesterday evening she still had not been notified officially by the authorities.

She is due to have surgery connected with her pregnancy next month but remained determined yesterday she would follow her husband back to Nigeria.

She and her two children, 23-month-old Zainab and nine-year-old Damilola, have been given leave to stay in Ireland. Zainab was born here and is an Irish citizen.