CAT/C/63/D/621/2014
Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram, made
repeated attempts against his life.
2.2
Whilst the author was living in the south of Nigeria, he made business trips to the
north in his truck. His parents, also Christians, used to live in Jos, in the northern part of
Nigeria. In July of an unspecified year, 2 his parents told him that religious killings were
being carried out in the city, and that local Christians feared an attack against their religious
organization. The parents asked for the author’s financial help in ensuring the security of
the organization. In January 2000, while visiting his parents, he learned that the attacks
were still occurring, and that the victims were mainly church members or close relatives of
church members. He agreed to help financially to improve the security of the church,
providing about $3,000.
2.3
On an unspecified date in May 2000, the first attempt was made on the author’s life
when two men tried to shoot him at his house in Ibadan. The perpetrators were screaming
“That was him; that was him — Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar”. The author bribed a police
officer, who told him that the police were implicated in the attack, as they had been paid off
by the perpetrators prior to the event. He was also told that the perpetrators’ mission was to
get rid of him because he was arming Christians who were said to be killing Muslims in Jos.
2.4
Around late October 2000, the author was in a market in Kano when he saw a man
being murdered by other men shouting “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar” who were carrying
the author’s photograph.3 The author managed to disappear into the crowd and to leave for
Ibadan. He did not come back to the market for about six months. In early July 2001, the
author’s truck was ambushed on the road by unidentified assailants while he was returning
to Ibadan from Kano. The truck was then set on fire by the same assailants.
2.5
In December 2001, in the light of those events, the author decided to leave Nigeria
and flee to Canada, with the help of a friend. In April 2002, the author arrived illegally at
John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, and was provided with a passport arranged by his
friend. He went to the state of Minnesota, where he stayed for two years, as he could not
find a way to cross into Canada. The author married in August 2002. 4 He contacted a
lawyer for advice, who told him that he could assist him in processing an asylum claim in
the United States of America, while warning him that the one-year limitation rule would
complicate his application. Nonetheless, the author did not file an application for refugee
status. He had no legal status in the United States until July 2005, when he obtained a false
identity card issued by some of his wife’s co-workers.
2.6
On 5 February 2006, the author’s parents were killed in an arson attack carried out
by members of an Islamic extremist group. The perpetrators have never been arrested.
2.7
In December 2011, the author decided that it was time to move to Canada, after
having experienced problems with the authorities of the United States regarding his social
security situation. On 26 December 2011, he was arrested by the Canadian border patrol for
illegal crossing into Canada.
2.8
On 5 January 2012, he made a claim for refugee protection in Canada. On 27
September 2013, the Refugee Protection Division rejected his claim on the ground that the
complainant was not a Convention refugee and was not a person to whom it owed
protection. It determined that: despite the extensive documentary evidence regarding
conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, the complainant had a viable internal
flight alternative; there was no evidence suggesting that the alleged assailants had a
continuing interest in the complainant; and it had not been established who was responsible
for his parents’ murder. The complainant did not appeal against the above-mentioned
negative decision, because he was not provided with free legal counsel by Manitoba
2
3
4
2
The year is not specified in the communication: it may be between 1995 and 1999.
The author’s market employee also noticed the photograph.
No further details have been provided as to whom he married and where.