Canadian court rejects asylum request of Nigerian politician

A court in Toronto, Canada, has rejected the request of a Nigerian politician and a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adams Omozakari Ayonote, seeking asylum, saying ‘his claims were embellished’.

The presiding judge, Whyte Nowak, delivered the judgment on November 15, 2024, turning down Ayonote’s request, despite the politician claiming that he was attacked by supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2005.

He had reportedly filed refugee claims before the Refugee Protection Division (RPD), an immigration board in Canada that entertains and rules on claims seeking refugee protection.

According to court documents, Ayonote told the RPD that he would be persecuted by APC supporters if forced to return to Nigeria, explaining that he was shot several times in 2005 and nearly died in the process.

The Nigerian politician was also alleged to have said that in 2014, death threats from APC members were sent to his phones after he testified in the corruption trial of a party official.

After the incident in 2014, Ayonote reportedly relocated his family to Canada, while he decided to remain in Nigeria because he “had to take care of his business.”

Ayonote added that he had to flee to Canada in 2018 after he and an unnamed PDP senator were attacked by APC supporters at the airport, but the RPD declined his refugee claims.

“The RPD denied the Applicant’s claim on the basis that he had failed to credibly establish the core of his claim,” the court document read.

“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.”

Ayonote, having been displeased with the ruling, approached the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), who also dismissed his appeal on the basis that the applicant failed to “establish a forward-facing risk if he were to return to Nigeria.”

The RAD, in its decision, added that the Nigerian politician also failed to “provide sufficient credible evidence to establish the incidents of persecution upon which his claim was based.”

The presiding judge, Nowak, delivering the judgment, agreed with the RAD that Ayonote’s story had a lot of speculations.

Judge Nowak also said that Ayonote failed to reasonably explain “why he would appear at a public gathering in 2018 despite claiming to have been living in hiding for fear of his life.”

“Having reviewed the record and considered the parties’ written and oral submissions and having taken into account the applicable law, I find that the Applicant has failed to show that the RAD Decision is unreasonable,” the judge said.

“Accordingly, this application for judicial review is dismissed.”