Nigerians, in their hundreds, are seeking asylum overseas. Well, that is nothing new or rather, not news at all. It is not also a crime to seek asylum abroad.
There is a whole new dimension to it.
The Oxford Dictionary defines asylum as, the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee. While it defines asylum seeker as a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another.
This year alone, close to 70 Nigerians have sought asylum in Finland, as this newspaper reported in its June 14 edition. Most of these reasons are anything but political. All of them did so on the grounds that they were being persecuted for their sexuality. In Norway, 35 Nigerians are in different asylum camps, ‘waiting for clearance’ on the bases of being persecuted because of their sexual preferences. The trend is replicated everywhere in Europe, Asia, America, etc.
While there has not been any known cases of conviction based on sexuality in Nigeria, citizens are trooping overseas with new statuses as LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender).
“The problem is not that they are persecuted for any reason, the problem is that they are trying to escape from the harsh economic realities in the country”, Ifeanyi Udoamaka, a social commentator said.
“Other than seek genuine means of leaving the country, they have resorted to painting their country in a bad light, citing a recently passed Act as reasons. The same thing happened during the Liberian Civil war. Many Nigerians became Liberians, forged documents and left the country as refugees. For me, that is an escapist mindset,” Udoamaka said.
Aderonke Apata is a gay Nigerian woman, who is seeking asylum in Britain for fear that if she is sent back to Nigeria, she will be tortured because of Nigeria’s anti-gay laws.
The Home Office in Britain turned her down, after persuading the office that she is homosexual. She sent letters from girlfriends in Nigeria and Britain as well as supporting documents from friends.
According to The Independent of UK, Apata, 48, handed in petition to the Home Secretary Theresa May, demanding that deportation of all LGBT asylum seekers is halted until a review of their treatment is concluded.
Her partner is Happiness Agboro.
She tells the publication her ordeal. “I was asked to bring my supporting documents for my judicial review for the court to look at. What evidence do we have to compile apart from letters from people? I knew we had a home video of ourselves, so I thought why not just put it in? I cannot afford to go back to my county where I will be tortured, so if I have to prove it with a sexual video, then I have to do it.
I feel so bad it’s got to this stage. It’s such a desperate and precarious situation to be in, very dangerous, because anything could happen to those pictures, those videos.”
In 2004, when Apata came to Britain, her asylum was on religious grounds. She claims she comes from a Christian family, but married a Muslim man to cover up her long term affections for women.
The man’s family suspected she was gay and turned against her. She says she was taken to a Sharia court, where she was sentenced to death for adultery.
Apata ran away and went into hiding after two appeals for asylum were rejected. She says she lived on the streets of Manchester for fear of being deported.
She was caught in 2012 working with a fake visa as a care manager. Her latest asylum claim that she may be tortured if she returns to Nigeria, was rejected. Nigeria currently has 14 years’ imprisonment sentence for gays, and her ex was killed in 2012 in a mob attack, Akpata has claimed.
Her petition halting her deportation presently has over 230,000 signatures.
