By Akinwale Kasali
Popular Nigerian Pastor, Tobi Adegboyega, based in the United Kingdom, is on the verge of deportation to Nigeria following his alleged involvement in a £1.87 million fraud.
It was gathered from UK Telegraph Newspaper that the Pastor has lost his fight against deportation, despite his claims that it would breach his Human Rights.
The 44 Year Old Pastor Adegboyega is cousin to John Boyega, the popular Star Wars Actor. He faced the Immigration Tribunal and would, now, be deported to his native Nigeria.
Investigations revealed that Pastor Adegboyega misused funds meant for the Church, and also abused his position as the Head of SPAC Nation, as the Church is called.
The Church has been shut down
after a failure to properly account for more than £1.87 million of outgoings, and operating with a lack of transparency.
Adegboyega’s defence as he fights against his deportation is that the 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 with SPAC.
His legal team described him as a “charismatic” community leader of a large, well-organised church, and pointed out 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”.
He claimed his work had been “lauded” by politicians including Boris Johnson and senior figures within the Metropolitan Police, although no testimony by them was submitted to the Court. He said that without his personal presence in London, projects that he had masterminded would fall apart or reduce in size.
However, the Tribunal was told the Home Office contended “all is not as it seems.”
“Various manifestations of [Mr Adegboyega’s] Church have been closed down, by either the Charity Commission or the High Court, because of concerns over its finances and lack of transparency, according to the judgment.
“Investigation also revealed that former members of the Church have alleged that the Church 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 [Mr Adegboyega] is in fact of real value to the UK.”
It was also gathered that Adegboyega has 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.
At the tribunal, he maintained no one had ever faced criminal charges over his Church’s finances, that many of the attacks on him and SPAC Nation 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 Adegboyega’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 that SPAC Nation undertakes 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.
“[Mr Adegboyega] 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.
“The interference would therefore be limited, and lawful in all the circumstances.”
