ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-Canadian authorities rejected the asylum request of Mosunmola Awonuga and her three children after identifying spelling errors in the name of Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on her supporting documents.
According to court filings seen by Peoples Gazette, the discrepancies in PDP-issued documents, including a membership card, stamp, and a support letter, were deemed “clearly fraudulent” by Canadian immigration authorities.
Ms Awonuga, represented by Jacqueline Ozor of Law Ville Professional Corporation in Toronto, Ontario, based her asylum application on alleged persecution by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) due to her active membership in the PDP.
Additionally, she claimed her female children would face female genital mutilation.
READ ALSO: Why Atiku Must Forego 2027 Presidential Bid – PDP
However, the Canadian authorities found inconsistencies in the spelling of the party name, such as “Peoples Democratic Party” on her 2012 membership card and “People Democratic Party” on the stamp inside it, lacking the letter ‘s’.
The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) considered these discrepancies unreasonable for a major political party and denied her asylum.
Ms Awonuga’s explanation that she was unaware of the mistake and her suggestion that it might be how the PDP made the stamp were deemed insufficient by the Canadian court.
The court rejected arguments that non-Canadian documents, especially from a “third world country” like Nigeria, could have printing errors.
Justice Go of the federal court in Toronto upheld the RPD’s decision, stating it would be reasonable to expect a major political party to spell its own name correctly. She emphasized caution in avoiding errors that might suggest incompetence in producing professional documents.
The court justified Ms Awonuga’s asylum denial, pointing out discrepancies in her police report and Basis of Claim, questioning the precision and similarity of words between the two documents, and highlighting issues with the ages of her children.