It is not often that we read something on the web which we feel is worth sharing without edit, but this is one of them - an open letter from Nigerian born Olusola Esan, a UKIP candidate in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. We commend it to you, and will now let him speak:UKIP MY UKIP
My name is Olusola Esan, everyone calls me ‘Sola (Shola).
As we approach the last few days to the 2015 General Election in the UK, I am compelled to write this piece and tell a bit of my story due to some of my recent experiences within and outside my family and circle of friends on my involvement with UKIP, a political party that I am very passionate about.
I joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) because of their common-sense approach and their boldness to bring to light what is on the mind of an average, intelligent and sensible citizen of this great nation.
I am a great admirer of Nigel Farage and I had been following him for almost a decade prior to joining UKIP.
I am a migrant from one of the Commonwealth countries and a first generation Briton.
I believe in Britain, her virtues and her values, hence my decision to be a UKIP Councillor for the Queensway Ward in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire in the UK.
When elected, I will positively use my influence to promote equality, better working conditions and a living wage for every hard-working resident in our community, irrespective of their colour, race or birthplace.
Being a migrant myself, I have first-hand experience of the abuse and unfair treatment of migrant workers by too many institutions but I also believe that we are a hardworking nation, endowed with hardworking citizens who have been let down by successive governments of the day.
I believe in quality migration and not quantity migration.
I respect education and intelligence and no highly qualified and intelligent person should be subjected to being mere labourers, doing menial and unskilled jobs, just in the name of migration. It is soul-destroying.
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| Olusola Esan - 'Sola' |
My greatest passion in this campaign is on immigration.
Why on earth some people do not understand UKIP’s policy on CONTROLLED IMMIGRATION, especially from the EU, beggars beliefs.
Non-EU migrants had been massively controlled and are still being massively controlled.
The United States of America has what is called the DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY programme as one of the ways of controlling immigration. Australia operates the Points-Based-System of migration to control immigration.
The Conservatives in the early 1980s imposed visa restrictions on commonwealth countries like Nigeria. They were not branded racist. Nobody screamed racists or fascists at them.
Now that UKIP is suggesting the exit of United Kingdom from the EU, take full control of our borders, laws and the way we govern ourselves from Brussels and hence, limit the uncontrolled immigration from the EU got UKIP branded and smeared as a racist party.
The unfortunate thing is that mud-slinging takes time to wear off, but the good thing is that majority of the British people can now see through the lies and hypocrisy of the other parties.
Nowhere is it indicated or suggested in UKIP policies or manifestos that resident migrants in the UK will be sent back to their countries of origin. For anyone to even believe such a ludicrous thing is a great surprise to me.
Should that happen, I wonder who will be left on this island… lol
Most importantly and very pertinent to mention is the fact that UKIP is the only party to bring to light the “untouchable” issue of uncontrolled immigration from the EU and also to suggest and offer a REFERENDUM and give the citizens of UK, the opportunity to decide for themselves. (The Tories are now singing the same song but what David Cameron is not telling the electorate is that by 2017, according to Brussels, it will be too late. That’s why UKIP wants this referendum like yesterday!)
Prior to the 1980s, the United Kingdom operated free migration from the commonwealth countries and their former colonies and some Non-EU countries.
When my father decided to migrate to the UK from Nigeria in 1964, all he did was to sell a few of his personal belongings, bought his ticket and boarded a BOAC flight to London. Why he left behind his heavily pregnant wife and 2 sons, he did not say till he died in 1984.
When I first visited the UK in 1985 as young upwardly mobile Mechanical Engineering graduate on work assignment, I did not require a visa.
When the government of Margaret Thatcher decided to sanction Nigeria and introduced visa restriction against Nigeria and other commonwealth countries, nobody screamed racism of fascism.
When I attempted to visit the UK again in 1992, I was denied a visa and could not enter the UK until 2001 despite several attempts.
It takes a migrant to know what migration is all about.
Due to skills shortage in the UK, the Labour party in the late 1990s and early 2000s used the HIGHLY SKILLED MIGRANT PROGRAMME (HSMP) to invite highly skilled and qualified migrants from Non-EU and the rest of the world, to come and work, live and make the United Kingdom their permanent homes.
The requirements were simple and straight forward: A university degree in any discipline, certain number of years of post-graduation work experience and certain income level. Thousands of people from Non-EU qualified and were granted this special visa status with “NO RECOURSE TO PUBLIC FUNDS” boldly stamped on their passports.
It is pertinent to mention that I was fortunate to have migrated to the UK under this CONTROLLED IMMIGRATION scheme and now proud to be a British Citizen. The unfortunate part is the realisation that I could not and still cannot practice my Mechanical Engineering profession and could not take my career any further because the jobs were not there. It was a let-down by the Labour government of the day and we realised only too late that the government of the day only wanted us for the taxes we had to pay for 4 years before being granted permanent residency (Indefinite Leave to Remain). We were to work and pay taxes “without recourse to public funds” (meaning, no form of benefits or help from the government)
The government of the day then ‘shifted the goal post’ to 5 years and this led to the formation of HSMP LTD, a forum that challenged the decision and gave rise to the celebrated HSMP JUDICIAL REVIEW of 2004. At about the same time, the UK opened their borders to certain EU countries and when the numbers rose astronomically beyond expectations, the migrants from the non-EU had to bear the brunt. That led to the demise of HSMP.
I can go on and on forever but have to stop now.
As we prepare for the next General Elections 2015 on May 7th, may I seize this opportunity to thank all the members of this great party who had been working and still working tirelessly day and night in different capacities for the success of UKIP and wish all candidates the very best of luck.
To my son and only child, Olumurewa, who called me to express his disgust that UKIP will send him back to Nigeria because he has not got his citizenship yet, (for reasons best known to him) I say, there is nothing of such and every legal residents of the UK has nothing to worry about. Our concern is control of further influx of migrants.
To my very good friend, Miroslawa, originally from Poland who sent me a text message to ask why I should belong to a Party that would send her back to Poland, I also say nothing to worry about. We are not living in a Third World and this the 21st Century.
To the Afro-Caribbean couple that gave me a dirty look and hissed at me while leafletting and campaigning in the centre of Wellingborough town, and refused to even engage in a discussion with me, I would have loved to remind them that we Africans and Caribbeans, especially from the commonwealth of nations, had free migration to this country until recently and what UKIP is on about is a level playing ground for all immigrants.
To the rest of eligible UK voters at this general election (interestingly, British citizens and qualifying commonwealth citizens); I’ll take a quote from the Sunday Express of May 3, 2015 that says:
“Britain is at a crossroads. Vote Ukip to ensure our great country is on the right path” But most importantly, be bold and proud to stand up for whatever you believe in.
In a lighter mood, may I suggest that if United Kingdom is such a very accommodating nation, a super power, with all the infrastructures and amenities, why not open our borders to migrants from every part of the globe and make it “the more, the merrier”… lol
In the absence of that, I will be screaming DISCRIMINATION and RACISM.
I abhor hypocrisy with a passion.
On a final note, my heart goes to the thousands of illegal immigrants from the Non-EU countries currently living in the UK ‘under radar’ I wonder how they are surviving and I hope whichever party or coalition that comes to power on May 8, 2015 will consider the plight of these fellow human beings. The same goes for those whose applications for continued stay in the UK are held up indefinitely in the Home Office.
I BELIEVE IN BRITAIN.
the very best of luck to Shola - and all of UKIP's thousands of other candidates - on Thursday!
