Nigerian man left stranded and homeless in Nigeria after helping wife and four children relocate to Canada permanently

His wife and four children travelled ahead of him, but he says he could not locate them when he eventually arrived in Calgary.

He says he has been separated from his children for more than 11 years and wants his wife to allow them to communicate with him.

Mr Francis Ushie, who quit his banking job and helped his wife and four children relocate to Canada, has recounted how the move he hoped would give his family a fresh start instead left him separated from them for more than 11 years.

He said his marriage was already facing difficulties, such as infidelity, when the family received Canadian permanent residency. Rather than seeing their problems as a reason to give up, he believed leaving Nigeria might give them a chance to start again.

“I was married to a lady from Oboluku in Delta State, and somehow family issues happened. We had a little misunderstanding, problems of infidelity on her own part… So I decided that, OK, maybe when we leave this environment, things will be better for us,” he said.

READ NEXT: 8 Canadian companies offering work permit sponsorship opportunities for Nigerians, other foreign workers

Ushie said he voluntarily resigned from his banking job after the family’s permanent residency was approved, expecting to eventually join his wife and children in Canada. But the plan did not go as expected.

His wife and their four children travelled ahead of him while he remained in Nigeria because his former bank needed to audit his position. According to him, the process took almost a year.

By the time he eventually travelled to Canada in November 2014, he said his wife had blocked him and refused to tell him where she and the children were living.

He arrived at Calgary International Airport, known as YYC, but had no address to go to and no way of locating his family.

With a return ticket to Nigeria already in his possession and unable to find his wife or children, he eventually boarded a flight back home.

READ NEXT: She opened the door thinking it was her nanny. What she saw next turned a quiet night into a terrifying ordeal

So somehow, because I had a return ticket to come and do some other things in Nigeria…because I could not locate my wife, I boarded a plane back to Nigeria,” he said.

He had also hoped to return to Canada after receiving the compensation he was expecting from the Lagos State Government for the demolition of his house. He said he had planned to use the money to establish a business that would allow him to operate between Nigeria and Canada. That plan also failed.

“When I got to Nigeria, I also got stranded here,” he said, adding that he has remained in that situation since 2016.

In the years that followed, he also lost contact with his children. He said his wife stopped the children from communicating with him, leaving him largely dependent on emails and occasional responses. One of his sons, he claimed, could take three, four or even five months to read an email from him.

At this point, he said, reconciliation with his wife is no longer his priority. “I cannot force her,” he said. “As the saying goes, you can take your horse to the river, but you cannot force that horse to drink from that river.”

He also mentioned that he is considering escalating the matter to the Canadian authorities in the hope of communicating with his children. He said, “I’m still considering maybe I should write to the Canadian government to let them know that this is what has happened. I’m still considering so many options.”

What he wants, he said, is the opportunity to speak to his children and remind them that their father did not abandon them.

READ NEXT: Nigerian man who begs for a living in Italy reveals all his achievements back home

He pointed to the money he spent getting the family to Canada, including passports, flights and about two years’ rent abroad, arguing that the sacrifices should count for something.

“I’m not an irresponsible father,” he said. More than a decade after the family he hoped to reunite with left Nigeria, all he wants is to speak to his children.

“I think in the marriage, there is nothing like irreconcilable differences,” he said. “All differences can be reconciled if the two are willing.”

The marriage remains broken, the family is thousands of kilometres apart, and the man who once resigned his job to pursue a new life with them says he is still waiting for a way back into his children’s lives.