Nigerian Pastor to be deported from UK over alleged £1.87m fraud |Omohglobalnews

 

Popular Nigerian Pastor, Tobi Adegboyega, is set to be deported to Nigeria after losing his case to the UK government at the Immigration Tribunal.

The Tribunal ruled that, Adegboyega, a cousin of Star Wars actor John Boyega and whose church was shut down over an alleged £1.87 million fraud, should be deported to Nigeria following investigations, including one by The Telegraph, which exposed financial misconduct within his church.

He claimed deportation would breach his right under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to a family life – having married a British woman. He also said the attempt to remove him by the Home Office failed to take account of his community work.

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Describing a “charismatic” community leader of a large, well-organised church, his legal team claimed that he had “intervened in the lives of many hundreds of young people, predominantly from the black communities in London, to lead them away from trouble”.

“Former members of the church have alleged that it is a cult, in which impoverished young people are encouraged to do anything they can to donate money, including taking out large loans, committing benefit fraud and even selling their own blood.

“It is alleged that the church leadership lead lavish lifestyles and there have, it is said, been instances of abuse. The [Home Office’s] case before us was that all of this needs to be taken into account when evaluating whether is in fact of real value to the UK.”

The pastor is said to have allegedly lived in the UK “unlawfully” since overstaying on a visitor’s visa that allowed him to enter Britain in 2005. In 2019, he applied for leave to remain under ECHR’s right to a family life. His application was initially dismissed by a first-tier immigration tribunal before he appealed.

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In the tribunal, he maintained no one had ever faced criminal charges over his church’s finances, that many of the attacks on him were politically motivated and that claims it was a cult were unfounded.

However, the tribunal was told the Charity Commission concluded “there had been serious misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity which was sustained over a substantial period of time”.

The tribunal also found the pastor’s evidence to be “hyperbolic in many instances” and had “sought to grossly inflate his influence”. “We find it to be implausible that he has the time to undertake all of this work personally,” it said.

The tribunal concluded: “We are not satisfied that the good work undertaken generally would collapse or even significantly suffer should the Appellant be required to leave the UK.

“Weighing all of the foregoing in the balance we conclude that the decision to refuse leave to remain was wholly proportionate.

“He seeks to rely on family and private life relationships, all of which have been established whilst he was in the UK unlawfully, and which would survive his return to Nigeria.

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“The interference would therefore be limited, and lawful in all the circumstances.”