Nigerian Gold Medalist Vincent Onwubiko Faces Deportation

Reports are coming in that show a disabled athlete who has won five gold medals for Britain now faces being deported back to Nigeria. This news came in after the UK government refused the man's 11^th hour plea for clemency. The Nigerian emigrant, Vincent Onwubiko age 43, is a power lifter from Lewisham in south east London. The man now suffers from polio and is confined to a wheelchair. He represented Britain at the paraplegic games in 1995.

Vincent Onwubiko came to the UK back in 1994, and has an 11-year-old daughter. Mr Onwubiko claims that if he is sent back to Nigeria now, he will be dead within weeks. Last night, speaking from Colnbrook Immigration Removal Center, he said that the government has given him three months of painkillers for his return to Nigeria and told him to get on with it. However, he says that he needs proper care. Sending him back to Nigeria is the same as giving him a death sentence.

Mr Onwubiko said that his legal case is still before the courts and that he has been denied proper health care. Since living in Britain, Mr Onwubiko has represented the country at the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1995 and 1997. He also represented Britain at the World Champion of Champions competition in Birmingham in 1996. He was selected for the Great Britain team at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta but was unable to attend.

However, in 2007, Mr Onwubiko was sentenced to five months in prison for driving while disqualified after twice being convicted of careless driving in his specially adapted car. One time he apparently ran through a red light. Due to UK laws, an emigrant who commits a serious criminal offense is subject to automatic deportation.