A UK upper tribunal has reversed a previous ruling that prevented the deportation of Olutobi Ogunbawo, a 43-year-old Nigerian man, after his wife, Maria Adesanya, claimed they would be unable to access in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment if deported to Nigeria.
Ogunbawo was convicted in 2019 for immigration-related offenses. He was found guilty of conspiring with a British citizen to fraudulently claim paternity for his unborn child. This arrangement was reportedly orchestrated to help his partner remain in the UK.
Following his conviction, Ogunbawo served a three-year prison sentence and was subsequently ordered to face deportation.
In January 2023, a first-tier tribunal judge initially ruled in Ogunbawo’s favor. The decision was heavily influenced by testimony from his wife, Maria, who argued that deporting her husband to Nigeria would hinder their ability to conceive through IVF, which she claimed was unavailable in the country.
However, the Home Department challenged this assertion, arguing that the judge’s reliance on Maria’s testimony lacked sufficient evidence. Officials claimed that the tribunal had failed to verify her statement, which could have been easily corroborated through basic research.
The case was escalated to the upper tribunal for review. On November 4, 2024, the upper tribunal found significant flaws in the earlier ruling. It concluded that the first-tier judge erred in relying solely on Maria’s testimony without substantiating her claims with objective evidence.
The judgment specifically noted, “We conclude that the judge erred in exclusively relying upon Ms. Adesanya’s personal evidence when finding as a fact that IVF treatment is unavailable in Nigeria.” The tribunal emphasized that even a simple internet search could confirm the existence of IVF services in Nigeria.
As a result, the upper tribunal set aside the earlier decision and ordered that the case be reheard by a different judge. The tribunal also affirmed the Secretary of State’s argument that IVF facilities are available in Nigeria and pointed out that basic research could have substantiated this fact.
Tone Jarvis-Mack, the chief executive of the Fertility Foundation Charity, criticized the initial ruling as unreasonable. “How can this ruling be justified when so many law-abiding couples in the UK are denied the same opportunity? It’s staggering that a judge would rule on such a high-profile case when even the most basic Google search reveals the existence of IVF treatment in Nigeria,” he remarked.
The case will now return to the first-tier tribunal for reconsideration under a new judicial panel.
