UK may deny IPOB members, others asylum over rights violations

United Kingdom authorities may deny asylum to members of the separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other secessionists for rights violations.

The authorities hinged the decision on the Nigerian government’s proscription of the group for “terrorism”.

UK authorities said members of the group or those sympathetic to its activities would have to undegro stringent screening before they could be granted asylum.

“Decision makers will also need to take into account whether the person supports and is active on behalf of IPOB, which is a proscribed group in Nigeria, and whether they fear prosecution rather than persecution,” a document published on the UK government website on May 3 said.

Factors to be considered for asylum seekers linked to IPOB include the “legal status, profile, size, and organisation of the group/organisation to which the person belongs and its activities; whether a person in the UK would wish to continue their activism if returned to Nigeria (if not, why not); whether the group/organisation has a presence in Nigeria as well as outside of the country and any evidence that it is being monitored by the government.

Other factors include the person’s profile and political activities (including those online) and relevant documentary or other evidence; the profile and activities of family members; past treatment of the person and evidence that their activities in the UK may have come to the attention of the Nigerian security agencies.

“IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government, and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network (created in December 2020) – have reportedly committed human rights violations in Nigeria,” the document read.

The UK noted that IPOB alongside the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) will be subjected to the same conditions because the latter “too has reportedly been involved in violent clashes with the authorities.”

“If a person has been involved with IPOB (and/or an affiliated group), MASSOB or any other ‘Biafran’ group that incites or uses violence to achieve its aims, decision-makers must consider whether one (or more) of the exclusion clauses under the Refugee Convention is applicable. Persons who commit human rights violations must not be granted asylum,” the document read.

“MASSOB, since its formation in the late 1990s, has clashed with the security forces. Some sources report that numerous individuals have been killed, wounded, and arrested during these clashes – usually during demonstrations.”

The UK stated that any person excluded from the Refugee Convention would also be excluded from a grant of humanitarian protection.

It, however, advised UK decision-makers to still consider all claims on an individual basis, taking into account each case’s specific facts.

The government also asked the decision makers to check if there had been a previous application for a UK visa or another form of leave, stressing that asylum applications matched to visas should be investigated prior to the asylum interview.

MASSOB, it said, was identified in May 2013 by former President Goodluck Jonathan as one of the three ‘extremist groups threatening national security’.

The UK government said IPOB has used its online platform, ‘Radio Biafra’, and other social media to increasingly promote inflammatory rhetoric to encourage secessionist aspirations and resistance to Nigerian authorities, including violence.

It, however, noted that IPOB also claims that Nigerian security forces have also attacked its members with force, killing and injuring hundreds of its supporters since 2015.