Facing deportation to Nigeria, in 1994 Sunday and Bunmi Ogunwobi took the drastic step of seeking ‘sanctuary’ with their young children in Hackney Downs Baptist Church. In what would become the longest running sanctuary in British history, the family spent more than three years living in the church, as part of a successful campaign to secure their right to remain in the UK.
What is ‘sanctuary’ in a church?
Sanctuary is a tradition where a person is immune from arrest while in a sacred place, such as a church. Within Christianity, the practice is based on biblical themes and teachings on justice and protecting others from oppression. Though British law has not recognised sanctuary since 1623, modern governments and immigration officials have been reluctant to remove people from churches.
The Ogunwobi campaign came at a time when churches in the UK had been influenced by the sanctuary movement in the United States and Netherlands. The organisation Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) was encouraging more of its members to identify themselves as sanctuary churches.
“There’s been a gradual tightening up on immigration in Europe and the UK, especially against black people. We were persuaded by the justice of the issue to offer sanctuary to the Ogunwobis.”
Steve Latham, then pastor of Hackney Downs Baptist Church, in a 1997 article in ‘The Christian Century‘.
The Ogunwobi Family
Sunday ‘Sunny’ Ogunwobi arrived in Britain to study in 1981, eventually earning a Masters degree in environmental resources. During this time, he met and married another Nigerian student, Bunmi. Sunny’s student visa was extended to 1988 to allow him to complete his Masters degree.
Bunmi’s studies, however, were interrupted by the premature birth of her daughter Debbie at only 25 weeks, shortly followed by son Gabriel who also required medical care, which the parents worried they could not access in Nigeria. Over thirteen years the Ogunwobis built a life in the UK, with Sunny becoming a leader at their local Stamford Hill Baptist Church, and a governor and PTA chair at Craven Park School, Stamford Hill (now Springfield Primary).
Although the Ogunwobi children were all born in Britain, they were not entitled to British citizenship as the British Nationality Act 1981 had come into effect. When in 1993, the Ogunwobis’ application for the right to remain in the UK was refused, the children faced being removed to Nigeria, a country they did not know. Their third child Phoebe was born in 1993 and negotiations with the government dragged on. Then a deportation date of 15 March 1994 was set.
“My children do not know any other home than the UK. They have friends here. They do not know the Nigerian language, and have no knowledge of the situation in Nigeria. My children have never even been there…. It’s so unstable in Nigeria now; schools close from time to time. Hospitals are without resources…. I have no home there any longer, no way to make a living.”
Sunny Ogunwobi, speaking during the sanctuary.
The family decided not to give in. With no legal appeals left, they decided to defy the deportation order, and seek sanctuary in a church. As Stamford Hill Baptist Church had no suitable space for accommodation because it met on hired premises, they approached the then pastor of Hackney Downs Baptist Church, Steve Latham (1957-2022), who persuaded the church council to provide refuge to the family on compassionate grounds.
Sunny Ogunwobi went into sanctuary at Hackney Downs Baptist Church on 14 March 1994, a day before the deportation order came into effect. Bunmi and the children joined shortly after.
Living in a church
The Ogunwobis lived in two small rooms at the back of the church, accessible through their own side door. Two double beds were squeezed into a cold, dimly-lit storage room, while an office was turned into a small living room with chairs and a TV. After Sunday services in the main church space, chairs were stacked out of the way to create space for an indoor playground for the children.
The family rarely left the building. Church and campaign members helped with the shopping, and the older children were taken to school by a family friend. While Bunmi sometimes took their youngest daughter outside for fresh air, Sunny only left for occasional school governors’ meetings when he was picked up by his supporters in a car. The experience was hard on the family, and the two older children found it difficult to understand why they now had to live like this.
On top of the confinement, as the Ogunwobis kept the Home Office informed about their location, they lived under the constant threat that immigration officials could take them at any time. The family and their supporters knew of other attempts of sanctuary that had ended with the forceful removal of people from buildings for deportation. This included that of Sri Lankan national Viraj Mendis, who in 1989 was detained by a surprise dawn raid that both damaged and flooded the Manchester church where he had sought refuge.
Ogunwobi Family Must Stay campaign
Throughout the period the family claimed sanctuary in the church, they were supported by more than 200 active supporters and helpers.
Lawyer Pierre Makhlouf and Hackney Law Centre legally represented the family in their deportation case. The campaign was led by local journalist Ian Rathbone, whose publicity work ensured the Ogunwobi’s story continued to be reported in both national and international media. Adopting the slogan ‘The whole world’s watching’, this public visibility helped protect the family from raids like those that had ended other sanctuaries.
Candlelit vigils of about 15 to 20 people were held for the family outside the church every Monday. As it was thought immigration officials would not be willing to break up a prayer meeting to retrieve the family, a phone tree was set up to organise emergency group prayers at any sign of officers. When two men thought to be watching the church from a car were suspected of being undercover police, ten people surrounded them praying and singing until they drove off.
As negotiations between the government and the family’s representatives continued, they were supported by people across the country, and organisations like the Churches Commission for Racial Justice, whose Secretary Reverend David Haslam championed the campaign nationally.
Members of parliament, bishops and Pastor Steve Latham met the Minister for Immigration to plead the family’s case. Hackney Council passed an unanimous vote in support of the family, and 94 members of parliament supported a motion calling on the government to give them leave to remain in the UK on compassionate grounds. Internationally, Bishop Desmond Tutu, a world famous South African civil rights leader, made a supportive statement, and American Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson visited Downs Baptist Church and spoke up for the family.
“Just because my parents are Nigerian doesn’t mean anything. I am English, I was born here and I grew up here. I should have the right to stay here.”
Debbie Ogunwobi, aged 10, speaking in 1997.
Legacy
On 3 July 1997, the Ogunwobi family left the church and returned to their Hackney flat, as a newly-elected government finally granted them permission to stay.
Though one family’s future was secured, the struggle for others fighting their own deportation orders continued. For them, both the Ogunwobis and the campaign provided inspiration and hope, and some came together at the Hackney Downs Baptist Church for a special national event to celebrate the family’s victory.
During the Ogunwobi sanctuary campaign, Hackney Downs Baptist Church became a centre of activity lending support to other people facing deportation, and was the venue for the founding conference of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns there in May 1995. Resistance to deportations continued locally through organisations like the Hackney Law Centre, and nationally through the Centre on Conflict, Rights and Justice (CCRJ).
Sunny went on to work as an environmental engineer on the construction of roads and railways in the UK. In 2000, he was elected as a Labour councillor for Kings Park Ward, Hackney, and was active on the Management Committee of Hackney Law Centre. He also trained to become an ordained Baptist minister, and founded a community Baptist church in Dalston. Bunmi completed her degree in Business Law and a Masters degree in Paralegal, and became voluntary adviser at the Hackney branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau and for the Haringey Law Centre.
“Steve was a Christian who demonstrated his faith by his actions. My family and I will always remember and appreciate Steve and [wife] Sue for their support while we were in Sanctuary.”
Sunny Ogunwobi, in a 2022 memorial to Pastor Steve Latham.
