Man deported from Ireland on Nigeria flight earlier this year wins appeal to return
The man, aged in his 30s, has been granted the opportunity to receive international protection after Irish authorities accepted that he faced persecution and threats to his life due to being a gay man in his home country.
It's believed to be among the first successful attempts by one of the people on that flight to successfully challenge their removal.
The man in this instance was able to present fresh evidence to support the asylum claim, on the basis that he was considered a wanted criminal in Nigeria due to his sexuality.
He has now been given 10 days to get a visa and make his own way back via 7,000 km flight to Dublin for a meeting at the International Protection office in Dublin to pick up his life where he left it two months ago.
He and his solicitors have sought an extension from the Department of Justice to ensure he makes this meeting in time, as the man has faced delays accessing an appointment accessing an appointment for a visa to make the return journey.
'I need to get things arranged to get to Dublin in time, but I'm in Nigeria right now – what can I do. I had good friends in Ireland,' he told
The Journal
, adding that they had assisted him with witness statements offering character references to Irish immigration authorities.
He was arrested for his deportation while getting ready for work at a Co Cavan farm more than two months ago, and believes his old role has since been filled.
The man was one of the
35 passengers on the government charter flight
who was forced to leave Ireland as part of the government's crackdown on asylum seekers.
Three such deportation flights have taken place this year so far, the first time they have been used in well over a decade.
He spoke on condition of anonymity, due to fears of local police attempting to arrest him in the coming days before his departure back to Ireland.
'I can't go outside because of the fear and of the threat,' he said. 'I'm afraid where I am, I'm not safe.'
'Wanted by Nigerian authorities'
The decision to allow the man to stay in Ireland comes after the immigration authorities set aside an earlier ruling which found he had no right to stay in Ireland.
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In the new decision issued last week, the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (Ipat) accepted that he is a gay man who has faced persecution because of his sexuality in Nigeria and has even been the subject of police bulletins seeking his arrest over his sexuality.
The fresh Ipat report – seen by
The Journal
– outlined that it was presented with 'clear evidence' that the man is 'wanted by the Nigerian authorities' due to his relationship with another man over a decade ago.
This included a police report into the man and a document outlining he had a 'criminal record' due to his previous same-sex relationship, only some of which had previously been available.
Same-sex relationships are criminalised in Nigeria. The man's legal team from Ferry Solicitors in Dublin had argued that their client faces harsh treatment by Nigerian authorities due to the African state's ban on same-sex marriages, introduced 11 years ago.
The man described to
The Journal
how the past few months had been a 'roller coaster', as he outlined the need to stay out of public view as much as possible in his native country.
This man arrived in Ireland in 2020 and worked for most of the past five years in chicken farms in Co Cavan and Co Monaghan until his removal in June.
Family members of his partner have long sought the man since their relationship was discovered.
His solicitors pointed to online news reports on Nigerian websites seeking an update on the man's whereabouts, after people in the community discovered him and his partner were in a relationship.
His partner was someone he knew from their schooldays but he has had no contact with him since.
'I think people in Ireland will find it difficult to believe that this could happen,' he said. 'My situation was true. What happened to me is in the internet and it's there in the police documentation. It's really, really difficult for me.'
After initially fleeing Nigeria, the man first went to Italy. However, he ended up in Ireland due to fewer barriers to enter the Irish jobs market and, critically, because Ireland and Nigeria share the English as a common language.
He explained: 'I was like, 'Okay, let me just go to a place where they are able to understand my story better. I can be able to express myself and all of that.''
But his initial attempts to claim asylum had faltered and were rejected due to a lack of documentation and a deportation order was issued last summer, before the new evidence could be presented to Irish authorities.
The Department of Justice was contacted for comment and not respond in time for publication.
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