A Canadian court has declined the asylum request of a Nigerian politician, Adams Omozakari Ayonote.
Ayonote, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed refugee claims before the Refugee Protection Division (RPD), claiming that the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters attacked him in 2005.
The Nigerian politician alleged that he was shot several times and nearly lost his life.
As reported by TheCable, court documents showed that Ayonote told RPD that he would be persecuted by APC supporters if forced to return to Nigeria.
He further stated that APC members sent death threats to his phone in 2014 after he testified in the corruption trial of a party official.
The PDP member stayed back in Nigeria “to take care of his business” while his family reportedly fled to Canada.
Ayonote finally fled to Canada in 2018 after APC members allegedly attacked him and an unnamed PDP senator at the airport.
According to court documents, the RPD denied Ayonote’s claim, stating that the Nigerian politician failed to credibly establish his claim.
“It found insufficient evidence to connect the events of 2005 to the APC, and it considered the Applicant to have embellished the events of 2014.
“The RPD found the Applicant’s vacations to the United States in 2014 and 2015 and his return to Nigeria after each trip to be inconsistent with the Applicant’s stated fear of persecution in Nigeria.”
The presiding judge of the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), Whyte Nowak, said the Nigerian politician failed to “establish a forward-facing risk if he were to return to Nigeria”.
Delivering the judgment on November 15, 2024, Nowak said the PDP member also failed to “provide sufficient credible evidence to establish the incidents of persecution upon which his claim was based”.
The judge dismissed Ayonote’s appeal, stating that:
“Why he would appear at a public gathering in 2018 despite claiming to have been living in hiding for fear of his life”.
Legit.ng reports that the ruling APC was formed on February 6, 2013 and want not in existence in 2005.
UK moves to offer asylum seekers N6 million
Meanwhile, Legit reported that the United Kingdom government is offering to pay African asylum seekers about N6 million to leave the country.
The government is offering incentives for asylum seekers to move to Rwanda and live their British.
The then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reportedly said he wants the first deportation flight to leave in the coming months.
