At last she got her stay order

For the Nigerian woman who claimed shelter in a Mississauga church in order to avoid deportation, getting arrested may have been the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Felicia Abimbola Akinwalere took residence in Trinity Anglican Church in order to avoid her deportation that was scheduled in October 2006. Since then, she was rarely seen outside as she feared deportation. But she left the building on Monday and as she feared, she was arrested by two Peel Region police officers.

Within hours of her custody in an immigration holding centre on Rexdale Blvd, her lawyers and immigration officials negotiated a stay on her deportation order.

Rev. Steven Mackison, the minister of the church where Akinwalere has lived for the past two years, said that she is free and that immigration has agreed not to deport, exactly what she wanted.

Mackison said that police told Akinwalere that they were acting on a public complaint and even the media coverage of her plight forced attention on the case. All this while when Akinwalere lived in the there, the church received only one phone call complaining about her staying there, and many calls in her support. Mackison also said that the two hours during the negotiations were very long.

Mackison said that after the arrest Akinwalere was terrified, but is very happy now. He said that when he came to her cell, she just broke down and wept continuously.

Mackison said that now they will focus on convincing the immigration review board to allow here to permanently stay in Canada. Now that her deportation order is stayed, she is free to live anywhere in Canada.

Earlier, Akinwalere had applied three times to stay in Canada, but she was ordered to be deported even before ruling on her third request was made.

She came to Canada to visit family 18 years ago on a temporary visa. During that period, her husband took part in a failed military coup in Nigeria and went missing since then. Later he was declared dead.

The problem for Akinwalere was that had she returned to Nigeria, then being the wife of an army officer involved in a coup attempt, her life would have been in danger. So, fearing this, she didn’t returned even after her visa expired. Instead, she stayed in Canada and according to the Nigerian tradition, married her husband’s brother, who is a Canadian citizen. The couple has a 12-year-old daughter, Alice.

The church had planned a rally in order to stay her deportation while her application to stay is heard.