Copperfield, has approached a Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking a
declaration that he is not a Nigerian.
Copperfield who claimed to have no Nigerian affiliation whatsover said
he was wrongly deported to Nigeria after being charged for burglary in
America.
He had approached the court seeking a declaration that the Nigerian
Immigration Service erred when it received him into the country as a
repartriated citizen on September 18, 2013.
Copperfield who said he had been living like a destitute around the
Ikeja area of Lagos and depending on charity from good Nigerians since
his arrival in the country, having no relations in the country, was
asking the court to order his immediate return to the US or UK by the
NIS.
In a 21-paragragh statement of claims deposed to by his lawyer, Mr.
Ezebube Chinwike, Copperfields claimed to have been born on November
25, 1979 at Mill Road Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England to a
British-American father and a British Mother.
He gave his parents' names as Hagit Goddard Copperfields (now
deceased) and Shlomo Baruch Praise.
He said he lived at at 9301 Annapolis Road, Lanham, MD 20706 in the
United States of America before his detention in America and
subsequent deportation to Nigeria.
According to the process he filed in court, Copperfield alleged that
he was deported to Nigeria with fake documents issued by the Nigerian
Embassy in Washington DC to the effect that he was a Nigerian when he
indeed was not.
He claimed that upon arrival at the Murtala International Airport in
Ikeja, Lagos he had informed the officials of NIS that he was neither
a Nigerian nor had any Nigerian relative but yet he was received into
the country.
He said that based on his complaints on arriving the country, the NIS
handed him over to the Nigerian Police Force, Airport Command, Ikeja
for investigations and verification of his claims.
According to him, the police, after conducting the investigations,
confirmed that he had dual citizenship (American and British) but not
a Nigerian.
Copperfield alleged that after the police had concluded its
investigations, he was taken back to the NIS for the neccessary
administrative procedure to take him back to the US, but he was
rejected with no official reasons.
He alleged that since the NIS had abandoned him and refused to take
him back to the US, which he claim to be his country, he had been
living like a destitute around the Ikeja area of Lagos State and
living on charity from good Nigerians.
According to him he is currently living with some acute and severe
health challenges named as Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
Copperfield who alleged that when he visited the NIS office at the
Murtala Internation Airport, Lagos, he was chased away and sternly
warned never to return, said he could no longer access his daily
medications which his hospital in the US had never failed to supply
him with.
A medical report claimed to have been issued by the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital on March 6, 2014 by one Dr. A.O.
Olatunbosun, a consultant, was attached to Copperfield's statement of
claims.
According to Olatunbosun, in the medical report tagged SUB/LASUTH/302,
addressed to whom it may concern, Copperfields needed a daily dose of
300mg of Serequel (to be taken at night) and 300mg of Abilify (to be
taken in the morning).
The consultant who wrote that the drugs were not available in Nigeria
had advised that it would be better for Copperfields to travel abroad
to 'benefit maximally from the prescribed drugs'.
Copperfields in his suit against the NIS and its officials marked
FHC/L/362/2014 was, besides asking the court to order his immediate
return to the US, also demanding a sum of N10m as special and general
damages against the defendants in his suit.
He also wanted the court to put the cost of filing the suit on the defendants.
The three defendants named were the Director of the NIS, the
Comptroller General of the NIS and the NIS.
Meanwhile the defendants have maintained that Copperfield's claims
remained to be proven.
In the statement of defence, deposed to by their lawyer, Mr. S.S.
Liman, theysaid that they were vehemently opposed to Copperfields'
claims that he was received in error.
The defendants said they could not be held responsible for
Copperfield's wrongful deportation to Nigeria since he was received
based on the Emergency Travel Certificate issued by the Nigerian
Embassy in Washington DC which indicated that he is a Nigerian.
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