EFFORTS have been made to stop the deportation of a Nigerian woman living in Ireland after five thousand people signed a petition to revoke the order.
Loveth Oyiboka is due to be forced out of the country today by the Department of Justice and Equality.
The 29-year-old has been living in a direct provision centre in Sligo for the past four years.
Bulelani Mfaco, from the Movement of Asylum-Seekers in Ireland, says she has been treated appallingly.
"If you've spent your life in direct provision for four years, that's a lot of time that you've lost. The Irish government does not get to give that life back," he said.
"There are many other people who spent four years, five years in direct provision, some spent six, seven or eight years and then they are given a deportation order. That is just cruel to rob people of their lives and then tell them to sod off."
Credit: my.uplift.ieDuring her time in Sligo, she's been studying health care and has been volunteering with the Tidy Towns organisation.
Loveth's past is littered with tragedy and hardship.
She is the only surviving member of her family after her parents were killed in Nigeria. She fled her hometown in fear, and was taken in by a man who claimed to be a member of the Red Cross.
The man however reportedly mentally and sexually abused her, before trafficking her to his home in Italy.
It was during her transit that she was intercepted by police and escorted to Ireland because her passport had an Irish visa.
An online petition was created on my.uplift.ie. by locals who have described the deportation order as "heartbreaking".
"This is an appeal to Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan to revoke this deportation order and grant Loveth Oyiboka permission to remain in a safe environment," the petition reads.
"This is disheartening, unthinkable, terrifying, heartbreaking as she cannot go back to Nigeria where she risks being trafficked again or killed.
"Loveth has been through enough."
