A lawyer of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, Promise Nosiri, has been temporarily relieved of immigration concerns after the Canadian federal court in Toronto, Ontario, agreed to review an earlier decision denying her asylum application.

Documents seen by Peoples Gazette showed that Madam Justice Go on April 3 set aside an earlier decision rejecting the asylum request of Mrs Nosiri, who claimed Nigeria’s secret police, State Security Service, persecuted her family due to her alleged ties with the proscribed separatist group.

According to Mrs Nosiri, a colleague —with whom she shared an office — in her law firm, was an active IPOB member who sometimes held “IPOB meetings in his office under the guise of community events.” 

She explained that she was under intense scrutiny by the SSS agents who went after her husband and detained him for days when they were unable to track her location and arrest her.

The lawyer told the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), the Canadian department responsible for granting or denying asylum status to immigrants, that her husband was picked up presumably for interrogation about her whereabouts and detained in their facility until he bribed the SSS officials to negotiate his release.

But the RAD had found Ms Nosiri’s claim of alleged persecution and land dispute “unreasonable,” asserting that it could not be fathomed why the asylum applicant never approached a  Nigerian court to lodge her complaints, given her professional background in law.

But Mrs Nosiri was able to tender new evidence showing the text messages of her husband, “stating that he was arrested by the DSS supposedly for interrogation but was instead detained for being a spouse of a wanted suspect.”

“The spouse was released only after he bribed a DSS officer, who is a friend, and was advised to disappear as he would be re-arrested,” court documents showed.

Ms Nosiri also submitted group photos that she supposedly took with her colleague—the IPOB member — which security operatives may use in implicating her and linking her to the outlawed IPOB.

Ms Go of the federal court in Toronto said that the new evidence — found to be credible and relevant — provided a unique angle to Mrs Nosiri’s asylum application and thereby ordered a review of the matter by a different panel.

“The application for judicial review is granted,” Ms Go said on April 3. “The decision under review is set aside and the matter referred back for redetermination by a different decision‐maker.”

Ms Nosiri and her two children will continue to reside in Canada until the matter is re-assessed and determined.

Anna Davtyan of Dov Maierovitz EME Professional Corp represented Mrs Nosiri while Brad Gotkin stood in for the respondent, Attorney General of Canada.