Bishop welcomes deportation U-turn

09/07/08

The Bishop of London has welcomed the decision of the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, to allow the former head boy of a Church of England school to return to the UK from Nigeria.

The Bishop, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, had supported the fight of Damilola Ajagbonna, 20, to remain in the UK. Threatened with deportation, he was obliged to return to Nigeria last month despite having lived here for nine years.

Bishop Chartres said:

“I congratulate the Home Secretary on this decision. It is unfortunate that Damilola was forced to return to Nigeria where he had not lived since childhood; but it is a huge relief that he has been allowed to return here. He has much to offer this country, and we were worried that the Home Office had not taken his past and potential contribution into account in their decision to send him back.”

Mr Ajagbonna was head boy of Greig City Academy, a Church of England secondary school in Haringey, north London. The school (formerly known as St David’s & St Katharine’s) had a troubled past, and Mr Ajagbonna is credited with having done much to transform it. Bishop Chartres awarded him the St Mellitus Medal earlier this year in recognition of his contribution.

But despite having been brought up by relatives in the UK from the age of 11, Mr Ajagbonna discovered that he had no right to remain in the UK, and fought a long battle to be allowed to stay. Bishop Chartres had approached the Home Secretary several times on Mr Ajagbonna’s behalf, but the right to remain for three years was granted only after he had returned to Nigeria. Now that he is back in the UK, he hopes to begin a teaching degree course in September.

Bishop Chartres said:

“Damilola has shown at Greig what he has to offer education in this country; I have every expectation that he will become an excellent teacher.”