- Tobi Adegboyega, a Nigerian pastor at the centre of a £1.87 million (N4bn) fraud investigation, has lost his appeal to prevent deportation.
- The cleric who is the cousin of Star Wars actor John Boyega, will be deported to Nigeria due to claims of financial impropriety at his church.
- The church was previously shut down after failing to account for significant expenses and facing accusations of lack of transparency
Nigerian-born pastor Tobi Adegboyega, whose congregation was shut down in the United Kingdom due to an alleged £1.87 million (N4bn) fraud, has lost his fight against deportation despite claims that it would violate his human rights.
An immigration tribunal has determined that the clergyman, who is a cousin of movie star John Boyega, should be deported to Nigeria after investigations revealed the church’s misuse of finances.
Adegboyega was the leader of Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church Nation Ministries, a contentious church that was shut down for failing to properly account for more than £1.87 million in outgoings and operating with a lack of accountability.
He contended that deportation would violate his right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as he had married a British woman. He further claimed that the Home Office’s attempt to remove him did not consider his community activities with Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church Nation Ministries.
Adegboyega’s defence team describes him as a charismatic community leader of a huge, well-organised church who has intervened in the lives of hundreds of young people, primarily from London’s black areas, to steer them away from danger.
They claim his work has been praised by politicians such as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and prominent members of the Metropolitan Police. He stated that without his personal presence in London, the projects he had spearheaded would fall apart or shrink in size. However, the tribunal was informed that the Home Office believes all is not as it appears. According to the judgment:
“Various manifestations of 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.
“Former members of the church have alleged that it 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 Adegboyega is in fact of real value to the UK.”
Adegboyega has been living in the UK illegally since 2005, when he overstayed his visitor’s visa. In 2019, he applied for leave to remain based on the ECHR’s right to family life. His application was first denied by a first-tier immigration tribunal, but he appealed.
In the tribunal, he said that no one had ever faced criminal charges for his church’s finances, that many of the attacks on him and his church were politically motivated, and that claims that it was a cult were false.
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