Homophobic laws lead to Nigerians becoming the highest number of Canadian political asylum seekers

NIGERIANS are now the largest nationals seeking refugee status in Canada as the growth of homophobia is forcing lesbians gays to seek political asylum in more liberal environments where they will not be prosecuted.

At the moment, Nigeria has very Draconian anti-gay laws as anyone found guilty of committing a homosexual act can face up to 14 years in prison under the country's Same Sex Marriage Act of 2014. Following the promulgation of the law, vigilantes went on the rampage arresting homosexuals across the country and carrying out attacks against gay and lesbian hangout joints.

According to data just published by the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Nigeria had 12,138 pending applications as of December 2018. Canadian authorities pointed out that two out of every three Nigerian applicants claim to be victims of homophobic attacks.

According to the RPD, which is in charge of hearing and deciding claims for refugee protection in Canada, Nigeria has overtaken crisis-ridden Haiti which used to be the number source of applications. It added that the total number of pending applications from across the world stood at 71,675 which implies that Nigeria represents about 17% of total pending applications from over 170 countries.

Haiti comes a distant second with 6,811 pending applications while India has 5,175. Mexico has 3,525, Colombia, which ended a civil war barely three years ago, has 3,056 while China has 2,105.

Jawad Kassab, who led the refugee and immigration programme at Legal Aid Ontario in 2017, said the agency had identified an unusual pattern in sexual orientation claims filed by Nigerian refugee seekers. Mr Kassab added that he was concerned that if claims were fabricated, refugees with legitimate claims might have a harder time getting the help they need.

According to Mr Kassab, Legal Aid Ontario, which covers the legal costs for most refugee claims heard in the province, became suspicious after a routine review of refugee applications showed that 60% to 70% of about 600 Nigerian claims made in Ontario since April 2017 were based on persecution because of sexual orientation. He described that number as high, relative to other countries.

Mr Kassab said Legal Aid Ontario feared some of the claims were either made up by individual claimants or that legal representatives coached them to do so. Paul Ogenyi, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Orientation Agency, said desperate people should not use the gay issue as a means of getting asylum.