Edwin Okey Chikata Ijeoma expelled from South Africa
Edwin Okey Chikata Ijeoma was not an intellectual bum when he came to South America from Nigeria with a study permit in 1998 to pursue academic studies at the University of Pretoria. His hard work saw him earn his PhD in economics in 2003.
However, a man who became a professor of public sector economics at Fort Hare University (UFH) in the Eastern Cape was revoked his citizenship by the Home Office after he fraudulently used a bigamous marriage with a South African woman to obtain naturalization. and citizenship.
Ijeoma referred internal affairs to the Bhisho High Court, but in a 2020 ruling, the court found that the minister was not mistaken in believing that Ijeoma was making false statements about his marital status to the department or determining that his South African citizenship was zero.
Acting Judge Mikki Mfenyana denied Igeoma permission to appeal his decision, arguing that another court would not differ from its finding that it was false, if not dishonest, and that there was no reason to interfere with the minister’s decision.
Confirmation of the actions of the internal affairs, making him an undesirable resident of the country, means that Ijeoma, who had previously renounced Nigerian citizenship, has nowhere else to go.
The director of the UFH School of Government has been removed from office by the university for illegally registering the MEC Sindiswa Gomba Honors in Public Administration diploma, when she was not allowed to enter graduate school.
Ijeoma received permanent residency in South Africa the same year he graduated from Tukkies after being exempted from immigration restrictions due to his marriage to a local woman two years earlier. In 2005 he obtained South African citizenship by naturalization, but in 2007 he divorced his South African wife, apparently because the couple could not conceive.
Then Nigerian Ann Tomo joined him. Interior officials were informed that Ijeoma entered bigamy by marrying a South African woman after Tomo attached a copy of her 1993 marriage to him in Nigeria in his application for permanent residence.
Officials said that Ijeoma’s only mission in marrying a South African woman was to obtain citizenship.
In his initial decision, Mfenyana found that Ijeoma presented conflicting reasons for his bigamist actions: as an African, he believed he had the right to marry more than one wife; and who presented herself as a bachelor because she did not know that the SA recognized traditional marriages.
He said he did not disclose his marriage in Nigeria three times: when he applied for permanent residency in South Africa, when he got married in the country and when he applied for citizenship.
Shying away from a highly qualified academic “who, by his own admission, is in a good mood and an intellectual giant,” he said it was unlikely that during his time in the country and faced with immigration problems, he remained in the dark about the possible consequences. on the nondisclosure of her Nigerian marriage.
Ijeoma told the court that he received a permanent residence permit because of his “good and healthy character” and not his marriage to a South African woman.
He said that internal affairs did not take into account his contributions to the SA as a result of his work as an academic and in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
Mfenyana said his release certificate clearly states that marriage is a ground for his release, and Ijeoma also admitted during a 2015 internal affairs inquiry to show compassion for him, who obtained citizenship by naturalization after marriage.
The Department of the Interior provided the court with Ijeoma’s marriage certificate in Nigeria to dispel the notion that it was a normal marriage. However, Nigeria’s Marriage Law prohibits marriage when one party has already been married to another person under customary law.
In two South African immigration requests, when she had to give the name of a close relative still living in Nigeria, Ijeoma identified Ann Ijeoma as her sister.
Officials also said that Ijeoma will remain a permanent resident for five years unless he is released due to his marriage to a South African citizen.
Mfenyana said that the role of the court is not to review the minister’s decision, but to test it for legality and reasonableness. The court ruled that the minister was bound by law, which ruled that misrepresentation by Ijeoma was a criminal offense.
UFH spokesman Tandi Mapukata said it would take him time to clarify with the university’s human resources department what action could be taken following the court’s ruling against Ijeoma.
“The university still did not know about it. We will contact law enforcement agencies to get full information. “
Mapukata declined to provide a reason for Ijeoma’s suspension, but Dispatch reported last October that it was due to the illegal registration of Gomba.
Source: – TimesLine
