A Canadian Federal Court has denied the asylum application of Adam Omozakari Ayonote, a prominent member of Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party.
The court ruling, issued on November 15, 2024, and obtained by the Peoples Gazette, dismissed Mr. Ayonote’s claim that he faced a risk to his life in Nigeria due to his political activities.
In his application, Mr. Ayonote alleged that in 2005, he was shot multiple times by a member of the All Progressives Congress and argued that it would be dangerous for him to return to Nigeria. He further claimed that in 2018, after testifying in a corruption trial against a senior APC official, he received death threats from APC members. Additionally, he said APC members attacked him and others at an airport during the same period, prompting his decision to flee to Canada.
However, Justice Whyte Nowak, in delivering the court’s verdict, found Mr. Ayonote’s allegations to be unsupported by convincing evidence. The judge stated that the applicant’s claims were “embellished” and that his evidence failed to link the 2005 shooting to the APC, which was founded in 2013. The court also restricted his claim under subsection 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, noting the lack of credible proof to support his case.
The Refugee Appeal Division concluded that Mr. Ayonote’s claims regarding fear of persecution based on his political opinions were insufficient. The RAD rejected his application under both sections 96 and 97 of the IRPA, citing his failure to provide credible evidence of the incidents he described, as well as significant inconsistencies and omissions in his testimony. The court noted that there were doubts about the veracity of the three key events central to his claim.
Furthermore, the court pointed out that Mr. Ayonote had not demonstrated a genuine, ongoing fear of persecution. It highlighted his failure to seek refugee protection immediately after his trips to the United States in 2014 and 2015, as well as his return to Nigeria despite his claims of fearing for his life.
“The RAD considered the Applicant’s fear of persecution stemming from the public expression of his political opinions to be a basis for considering the Applicant’s claim under section 96 of the IRPA. However, the RAD rejected the Applicant’s claim under both sections 96 and 97 of the IRPA on the basis of his failure to: (i) provide sufficient credible evidence to establish the incidents of persecution upon which his claim was based; and (ii) to establish a forward-facing risk if he were to return to Nigeria”, the ruling read.
It added, “On the Applicant’s credibility, the RAD considered the presumption of truthfulness was rebutted as: (i) the Applicant failed to connect the 2005 shooting and the 2018 airport attack to the 2014 trial; and (ii) there were significant inconsistencies and omissions in the Applicant’s evidence, which led the RAD to doubt that the three critical events upon which his claim was based had occurred as alleged.”
