A retired Nigeria Police officer’s appeal for asylum refusal review was denied by Justice Ngo of a federal court in Ontario, Canada, on the ground that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is well known for extortion, bribery, and other vices that affect the ex-officer’s case.
After two asylum rejections, the first by the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and the other by the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), Martins Peter Nwokolo sought assistance of the court to review the unfavourable decisions of the immigration agencies, citing unreasonableness and breach of procedural fairness.
In October 2024, Ms Go dismissed Nwokolo’s grievances as ill-conceived, stating that the RPD and RAD were right to deny him asylum given a section of the Canadian law forbids issuing refugee status to people that have committed “serious non-political crimes” before coming to Canada.
The justice said Nwokolo, who retired as a traffic warden under the Nigerian police, was in this category of non-political criminals as Nigerian security outfit was popular for “extortion and bribery.”
In her October 23, 2024 ruling, Go said: “On April 11, 2022, the RPD found serious reasons to consider that the Applicant committed, under Article 1F(b) of the Convention, serious non-political crimes prior to entering Canada, namely extortion and bribery.”
Go determined that officers of the force contribute greatly to Nigeria’s corruption.
She said: “The RPD found that the police force as well as the traffic wardens are highly corrupt and that members of these forces are expected to contribute to this system of returns.”
Nwokolo debunked the accusations, saying he did not receive bribes and never extorted citizens during his years in active service. However, Go said the RPD had strong reasons to believe otherwise.
She said: “Even though the applicant alleges that he has never taken any bribes or extorted people as a traffic warden, the RPD found that there were serious reasons to consider that the applicant participated in those activities.’
While talking to the RPD, Nwokolo, a Pastor at the Chapel of Power Ministries since 2005, said he was offered the position of chief priest in Nigeria but he rejected the position, a move which according to him triggered his persecution in 2018.
He first relocated to another part of Nigeria and eventually relocated the U.S. in 2018. He moved from America that he moved to Canada to file for asylum.
Due to the bad image of Nigeria’s police abroad, many asylum applications by former security operatives have been rejected.
@Nigerian Canadian Newspaper Canada, excluding headline
