Nigerian gay asylum seekers among deportees from UK

Nigeria had been expecting 38 deportees from the UK on a specially chartered flight – but less than half that number arrived in Lagos on Thursday morning.

One of those who has arrived has told the BBC that he is gay and fears for his life.

Before the flight left on Wednesday night, human rights campaigners in the UK had expressed concerns that members of the LGBTQ+ community, who had sought asylum in the UK, were among them.

They said they could be persecuted either because of their religion or on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Many of those on the plane had lived for decades in the UK, and according to Nigeria’s foreign ministry were being deported for alleged immigration-related offences.

The flight landed first in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where between 10 and 13 men disembarked, and then continued on to Ghana’s capital, Accra, with seven men and one woman.

Those who arrived in Lagos were seen through security before being taken away to a facility and were not allowed contact with the public or journalists at the airport.