A United Kingdom upper tribunal has overturned a previous decision that blocked the deportation of Olutobi Ogunbawo, a 43-year-old Nigerian convicted of immigration-related offences.
Ogunbawo, sentenced to three years in prison in 2019 for conspiring with a British citizen to falsely claim paternity, faced deportation after his release.
However, in January 2023, a first-tier tribunal judge ruled in his favour, citing the potential impact of deportation on his wife, Maria Adesanya, who claimed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) was unavailable in Nigeria.
Maria argued that access to IVF treatment was crucial to their attempts to conceive a child, asserting that Nigeria did not offer such services. This claim was pivotal in the initial tribunal’s decision to stop Ogunbawo’s deportation.
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The Secretary of State for the Home Department appealed the ruling, challenging the validity of Maria’s claim and arguing that the first-tier tribunal judge relied solely on her testimony without seeking corroborating evidence.
On November 4, 2024, the upper tribunal ruled that the initial decision was flawed due to the lack of objective verification.
The tribunal criticised the first-tier judge for failing to confirm Maria’s assertion, noting that a simple internet search could verify the availability of IVF treatment in Nigeria.
In its judgment, the tribunal stated, “We conclude that the judge erred in exclusively relying upon Ms A’s (referring to Maria) personal evidence when finding as a fact that IVF treatment is unavailable in Nigeria. Even a basic Google search confirms the existence of IVF services in the country.”
As a result, the tribunal set aside the earlier ruling and ordered the case to be reheard by a different judge.
The case will now return to the lower tribunal for reconsideration, putting Ogunbawo’s deportation back under review.
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