Kenny is from Nigeria and has been living in Glasgow for over a year. He is a regular volunteer and a good friend of everyone at the Unity Centre and is a very popular member of the local church’s bowling club, where he plays every evening. Friends visited him in Dungavel on Monday evening, and say Kenny was in low spirits after being detained.

If Kenny is returned to Nigeria he faces serious problems. He came to the UK in 2000 after his father, who was a leader of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) was assassinated by others in the group who wanted to overthrow his leadership. Kenny was living at home at the time but managed to escape by the back door. He believes he too would have been killed if the men who killed his father had found him.

He worked on arrival in the UK to pay back the agent who brought him here. Kenny believed he was working legitimately but when he applied for asylum in 2007 he was told he had been here illegally. In 2007 he was detained, but campaigning by Unity and other friends saw him released. Since then he has been fighting to stay here in Glasgow, the city which has become his home.

If Kenny is sent back home, he believes the men who killed his father will still be looking for him, even though he was not a member of the OPC himself.

The most recent US State Dept Human Rights Report on Nigeria, published in March 2007, states
that during 2006: “The government’s human rights record remained poor, and government officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses. The most significant human rights problems included the abridgement of citizens’ right to change their government; politically motivated and extrajudicial killings by security forces; vigilante killings; impunity; beatings of prisoners, detainees, and suspected criminals; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention; executive interference in the judiciary and judicial corruption; infringements of privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion and movement; domestic violence and discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse and child sexual exploitation; societal violence; ethnic, regional, and religious discrimination; and trafficking in persons for purposes of prostitution and forced labor.”

Please help Kenny get released once again and back to his friends in Glasgow.

Please help by contacting the Home Office and Virgin Atlantic to request that the flight be stopped and Kenny is not forcibly returned to Nigeria.

1. Fax the Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Kenny be allowed to stay in the UK, please remember to include Kenny’s Home Office Reference Number: : 01114072
Fax 020 7035 4745 / from outside UK+44 207 035 4745

2. Please phone, fax or email:
CEO Steve Ridgeway, Virgin Atlantic Airways - Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9NU Fax: 01293 444124
Please remember to include the flight details (VS651 from London Heathrow to Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday 9th October at 22:30).
Virgin Atlantic Offices Tel: 08705 747 747/ outside UK: +44 1293 562 345
Fax: 08701 900 959

Email:  customer.services@fly.virgin.com or go to the following link and fill it out the forms and make specific in the comments that deportation flights should not be operated by Virgin:  https://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/customerrelations/contact_us/email.jsp

*No fax machine? No matter!*
If you have a computer and access to the internet you do not need a fax machine to fax.

There are two methods of faxing:
From your browser go to:
 http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html
(the number must be entered with the country code
so 020 7035 4745 (Home Office) would be 44 20 7035 4745)

Send a fax via email
Use this email address format :
 remote-printer.recipient_name@fax_number.iddd.tpc.int

So, to send the fax to Jacqui Smith put:
 remote-printer.Jacqui_Smith@442070354745.iddd.tpc.int
Just copy your fax message into the body of the email.

The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ

0141 427 7992
www.unitycentreglasgow.org
PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS:  info@unitycentreglasgow.org

The UNITY Centre is run entirely by volunteers and funded completely by donations from our supporters. We need your help! If you would like to help by making a donation or by volunteering you can find more details on our website. Thank you! UNITY!