A Nigerian man who worked for the military regime which ruled the African country during the 1990s has lost a High Court bid to overturn a deportation order.
Adegboyega Gabriel Adesina Okenla (43) had brought the case on grounds that he was denied access to legal advisors in order to challenge the deportation order of January 2003. He was deported on March 8th without having had an opportunity to challenge the order, he claimed.
Mr Okenla, who used a number of different names interchangeably and held three separate passports, entered here in September 1999 and applied for asylum, which was subsequently refused in late 2002. He was arrested in March 2003 and detained at Cloverhill Prison before deportation on March 8th
He admitted serving as a special assistant and private Secretary to Nigeria's chief security officer during the unpopular regime of ex-Nigerian President Sani Abacha.
Mr Okenla, who amassed significant wealth in his own country, stated his role was to submit the names of the then presidents opponents to Strike Force, a group of select soldiers with a record of brutality, who eliminated opponents by killing them.
In his judgment rejecting the challenge, Mr Justice John Mac Menamin said he was satisfied Mr Okenla "never asked his solicitor to challenge the lawfulness of the detention order which he now seeks to impugn". It was open to Okenla to instruct his former solicitor to provide the relevant files to his new representative, the judge added.
"It was the applicant himself who choose to instruct another solicitor, and who opted not to instruct solicitors who were familiar with some aspects of his case and who had processed his asylum claim," the judge said. This change should not have prevented him from challenging the order.
The judge said Mr Okenla had acted not only in bad faith but his interactions with the various organs of the state "were designed to mislead and deceive in such a way to gain rights and benefits to which he was not lawfully entitled".