The uncompleted house where Florence Abiola Modupeola Oduleye now lives stands in stark contrast to the life she once imagined for herself in the UK.
Located in a village near Ede, Osun State, the house has no proper ceilings in some rooms. Flour sacks serve as makeshift coverings overhead. Several windows have nothing more than burglar-proof bars. Thick vegetation surrounds the property.
It is there that Florence Oduleye, now in her later years, reflected on what she describes as a decades-long trail of betrayal that culminated in her deportation from the United Kingdom along with her two children she had while there. 
Speaking in an interview with Lunch Box, a general-interest Facebook platform, Oduleye alleged that the father of her children, Babatope Olawumi, deliberately orchestrated the circumstances that led to their removal from Britain so that he could pursue another woman.
SEE ALSO: After 13 Years in the UK, I Felt I Had Wasted My Life
According to her account, the story began on August 18, 1988, when she arrived in the United Kingdom on a six-month visitor’s visa.
Like many young Nigerians of the era, she arrived with aspirations of building a future abroad. Hoping to remain legally in Britain, she sought to convert her visitor’s visa into a student visa.
Through a former secondary school classmate, Morenike Olaide, she was introduced to a school in East London run by a Nigerian man popularly known as Baba Rosco. She paid a £500 deposit and trusted the institution to process her application. But the plan failed.
The Home Office rejected the application because the school lacked the necessary approval and the application itself was considered defective. By the time she became aware of the rejection, the deadline for an appeal had passed. Overnight, she found herself without legal immigration status.
Forced to rely on friends, Florence Oduleye moved into a shared apartment in East London. It was there that she met Babatope Olawumi who, according to her, presented himself as a British-born Nigerian who worked as a cab driver. He appeared stable and confident. More importantly, she believed a relationship with him could provide a pathway to regularising her immigration status.
Initially, she resisted his advances, as her focus was on sorting out her papers, she claimed. But Olawumi persisted. He promised commitment, stability and a future together. Eventually, they began living together after her friend moved out of the apartment. Looking back, Oduleye said that was the moment she began placing her trust in a man who would later, in her view, destroy her future.
The relationship soon encountered difficulties.
After failing a breathalyser test, Olawumi was banned from driving for 18 months. Unable to work, he asked Oduleye to support the household financially.
Believing they were building a life together, she agreed.
Florence Oduleye worked multiple jobs to keep the family afloat. Her days often began with cleaning jobs in the early hours, followed by shifts in a kitchen and additional cleaning work in the evenings.
While she worked, however, she alleged that Olawumi contributed little financially and instead became increasingly abusive.
According to her, the abuse became so severe that she eventually contacted the Metropolitan Police.
Officers, she claimed, were prepared to prosecute him, but she withdrew the complaint. She feared the stigma that would come with criminal proceedings and worried about how his family in Nigeria would perceive her.
SEE ALSO: Nigerian Couple Jailed in UK for £433,000 Tax Fraud
At the time, she was pregnant with their first child. She secured council accommodation as a single woman at 131 Rodney Road, SE1, and requested only that Olawumi sign an undertaking to stay away. But the separation did not last.
One day, she said, Olawumi arrived with friends, prostrating and begging for forgiveness.
She forgave him.
That decision, she now believes, proved costly.
A few months later, while three months pregnant, Olawumi persuaded her to travel to Italy. His sister, Toyin Elizabeth Olawumi, lived there with her fiancé, and Italy was then running an amnesty programme that offered residency opportunities to undocumented migrants.
Oduleye agreed and travelled on a borrowed British visitor’s passport.
While staying in Italy, she made a discovery that changed everything.
While cleaning the house, she said she came across correspondence exchanged between Olawumi and his sister. According to her, the letters revealed a shocking plan.
She alleged that Olawumi wanted her stranded in Italy so he could bring another woman from Nigeria and marry her instead.
The revelation devastated her. Rather than remain in Italy, she secretly returned to Britain using the same borrowed passport. Before leaving, she mailed copies of the letters to her brother for safekeeping.
For Oduleye, the letters confirmed what she had begun to suspect. It was that the father of her child was actively trying to remove her from his life. But the relationship somehow survived. After tracking her down at her brother’s residence, Olawumi apologised once again. He pleaded for another chance, and eventually she reconciled with him.
The reconciliation led to the birth of their second child, Oludara. But Oduleye alleged that the circumstances surrounding that pregnancy were traumatic. She claimed she had made it clear she did not want another child because of the instability in her life. She said she even sought an abortion through her GP, Dr. Ayodele.
According to Florence Oduleye’s account, Olawumi threatened the doctor and prevented the procedure from taking place.
Meanwhile, she remained the family’s sole provider.
Even after his driving ban ended, she said, Olawumi did not return to work consistently. Instead, he allegedly spent money on other women while she struggled to pay rent and provide for the children.
SEE ALSO: Nigerian Businessman Discovers 4 Kids He Raised for 20 Years Aren’t His
Promises of marriage continued.
Years passed, but the wedding never happened.
Eventually, desperate to resolve her immigration problems, Oduleye explored another option. Through her brother, she was introduced to a British man identified as Mr. Bamgbose, who was willing to marry her for immigration purposes.
The arrangement progressed significantly. An engagement ceremony was held in Manchester. A solicitor became involved. Plans appeared to be moving forward.
Unknown to her, however, Olawumi knew virtually everything about the arrangement. He still possessed keys to her council flat at 22 Mayford Court, which she said was allocated after the birth of her second child. He also had access to sensitive personal information.
Then came the morning that changed everything. At approximately 5:30 a.m. in October 1992, immigration officers arrived at her door.
They had a deportation order.
She and her children were to leave Britain that very day.
She telephoned her solicitor, who challenged the officers and promised to intervene.
But according to Oduleye, the solicitor never arrived.
She later learned that immigration authorities had detained him in Manchester using information that, she believes, could only have come from Olawumi.
Faced with deportation, she made a painful decision.
One child was still a toddler. The other was only a few months old. She could have left them in Britain.
Instead, she took them with her.
As she prepared to leave, Olawumi reportedly promised to send her belongings later. According to Oduleye, he never did.
Instead, she said he mocked her deportation to mutual friends. Back in Nigeria, she began searching for answers.
An appeal handled by the late Chief Abraham Adesanya eventually produced a response from the Home Office.
According to Oduleye, the authorities indicated that their actions had been based on information supplied by “a very close relative.”
For her, that was confirmation. She became convinced that the father of her children had informed on her immigration status and facilitated the process that resulted in her deportation.
She believes his motive was that he wanted her out of the picture so he could pursue another woman.
The consequences have lasted more than three decades. Since returning to Nigeria, she has struggled financially. She spent six years in The Gambia pursuing opportunities that might reopen a path to Europe. She later travelled to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan in search of a better life.
Nothing worked.
Eventually, she returned to Osun State. Her children have also carried the burden.
Her first child, Oluwatimilehin, graduated from the University of Ilorin in 2015 with a Second Class Upper degree in Geography and Environmental Management, but has struggled to secure stable employment. Her daughter, Oludara, graduated from Osun State University with a degree in Linguistics and Communication Arts and only recently secured a low-paying job.
Despite being born in Britain, both have repeatedly encountered difficulties in proving their citizenship claims because applications for British passports require information that only their father can readily provide.
Today, Oduleye says her greatest mistake was trusting Olawumi.
She believed his promises, his claims of British citizenship and his assurances that marriage would eventually solve her immigration challenges.
Instead, she says, she lost her life in Britain, her opportunities and the future she had envisioned for her children.
More than three decades later, Florence Oduleye remains hopeful that her children will one day secure recognition of their British heritage.
About The Author
