[Almost a Christian]

I'm afraid this dazzling example of multicultural tolerance isn't all he's cracked up to be. There's a surprise..

Mayor at a loss to understand allegations

PORTLAOISE Mayor Rotimi Adebari is at a loss to explain or understand claims that he worked as a driver in the London underground prior to arriving in Ireland seeking asylum.

This week Cllr Adebari totally denied any suggestion that he had been telling untruths in his application for asylum in Ireland and said his higher profile in politics since becoming mayor was a learning curve for him. Responding to the claims and allegations made about him he said: “Maybe it is the trademark of the game of politics, it is certainly a learning curve for me.”

Last week the Irish Daily Mail newspaper ran a two-page spread on Cllr Adebari’s mayorship and raised questions about his account of fleeing Nigeria because of religious persecution and gaining asylum in Ireland.

The newspaper said it had received a letter from a man who claimed to have worked with Cllr Adebari in London in 1999.

The man claimed Cllr Adebari had worked as a train driver earning about €43,000 per year. The newspaper article also claimed it had interviewed other men who remembered working with Cllr Adebari at the train depot at Queen’s Park in Northwest London.

Cllr Adebari told the Laois Nationalist on Tuesday afternoon (yesterday) that he had not had an opportunity to read the weekend newspaper article but he was at a loss to explain or understand the claims that had been made.

This week some of Cllr Adebari’s colleagues on Portlaoise Town Council responded to the recent allegations.

Councillor Jack Nolan said he had read the article in last Saturday’s paper.

“Allegations were made and he denied them. I feel though he has to clear up a few things. Maybe he had his own reasons to say what he said but it wasn’t made clear in the article what they were. He’s innocent until proven guilty,” said Cllr Nolan. Cllr Kathleen O’Brien said she hadn’t seen the article.

“None of us would like allegations made against us. But I if feel Cllr Adebari should be given an opportunity to make a statement on this,” she said,

Other town councillors Willie Aird, Tom Jacob, Catherine Fitzgerald and Brian Stanley said they couldn’t comment on the issue because they hadn’t seen the allegations in the newspaper articles.

Cllr Adebari’s first application for asylum status in Ireland was turned down. However, when his third son was born here he and his family were granted asylum, under the then law that allowed automatic citizenship for the parents of a child born in this country.

Offered the opportunity to make a full response Cllr Adebari said he would make a statement on the matter in next week’s paper.