Date: 20011218
Docket: IMM-6210-00
Neutral citation: 2001 FCT 1398
BETWEEN:
AFOLABI ADEMOKOYA
ALEX ADEMOKOYA
SEUN ADEMOKOYA
CLARA ADEMOKOYA
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Board (the "Board") which concluded that the applicants were not Convention refugees.
[2] The principal applicant is Afolabi Ademokoya, a citizen of Nigeria.
[3] The principal applicant, a devout Christian, bases his claim on religious grounds. The associate claims are based on membership in the family. He alleges the following facts in his Personal Information Form (PIF).
[4] His father belonged to the Ogboni Lodge Fraternity, which is a secret cult. Following the death of his father, the applicant was asked to join the secret Society. By Ogboni tradition, a son of a former Ogboni member must replace his father in the Society or be eliminated. He refused to join the Ogboni because of his religious beliefs after which he and his family were consistently harassed by members of the cult and were unable to rely on the police for protection.
[5] The applicant's youngest child died of internal bleeding after an attack at the family home by cult members. He never went to the police because he was afraid since he believed that some members of the police were involved in the Ogboni cult.
[6] Fearing for their lives, the applicant and his family approached one of their fellow church members from Swaziland for advice and assistance. He helped them obtain passports from Swaziland which enabled them to travel to Canada. They left Nigeria on September 18, 1999 and arrived in Canada on October 17, 1999.
[7] The Board found that the applicant had not established, on the balance of probabilities, that he has a well-founded fear of persecution at the hands of the Ogboni.
[8] The applicant submits that the Ogboni Society and the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (ROF) are two distinct organizations and that the Board erred in confusing the two. As a result, the Board erroneously concluded that the Ogboni society is not secretive and meets publicly. Thus, the applicant's testimony and PIF were not plausible because he repeatedly states that the Ogboni was a secret Society.
[9] Exhibit A-11 is an assessment of Nigeria prepared by the Home Office, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, of the United Kingdom. It makes a clear distinction between the Ogboni society and the ROF. It qualifies the Ogboni society as a secret society which is banned and for which it is hard to obtain reliable information. However, the ROF is not qualified as being secret or banned. The report also mentions that the ROF dissociates itself from cults, specifically the Ogboni. (Exhibit A-20 also distinguishes between the Ogboni cult and the ROF).
[10] In my opinion, the Board committed a reviewable error when it misconstrued the evidence pertaining to the Ogboni and the ROF. This erroneous finding of fact, at the heart of the applicant's claim, may have tainted the Board's credibility finding and is sufficient to warrant the intervention of the Court.
[11] The application for judicial review is granted. The matter is referred back for redetermination by a newly constituted panel.
"Danièle Tremblay-Lamer"
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
December 18, 2001.