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Home Office criticised over handling of Sri Lanka scientist’s asylum claim

A scientist conducting groundbreaking research into renewable energy is facing deportation with his family to Sri Lanka, where he experienced torture, after receiving contradictory information about his case from the Home Office.

Dr Nadarajah Muhunthan, 47, his wife Sharmila, 42, and their three children, aged 13, nine and five, came to the UK in 2018 after Muhunthan, who is working on thin-film photovoltaic devices used to generate solar energy, was given a prestigious Commonwealth Rutherford fellowship. The award allowed him to come to the UK for two years to research and develop the technology. His wife obtained a job caring for elderly people in a nursing home.

The family are Tamils, a group that has experienced persecution in Sri Lanka.

In November 2019, Muhunthan returned to his home country for a short visit to see his sick mother. While there he was arrested and persecuted by the Sri Lankan government. He managed to escape and returned to the UK, where he claimed asylum on the basis of what he had experienced on his visit to Sri Lanka. After his scholarship expired in February 2020, neither he nor his wife were permitted to continue working.

A Home Office case worker sent an email on 20 September this year, saying the family’s asylum claim was “under active consideration”, and another email on 11 October saying the asylum claim had been refused on 23 August – 28 days before the family were told their case was still under consideration.

The family had been renting accommodation in Bristol and all the children were settled at school there. The couple’s eldest daughter, Gihaniya, received outstanding school reports with a 100% attendance rate and was particularly praised for her achievements in science. She hopes to study to be a doctor when she is older.

The Home Office moved the family from their rented accommodation in Bristol to a London hotel last month, uprooting all three children from school.

The two younger children now have school places but Gihaniya does not and is confined to the hotel.

“It is so boring here. It is like a prison,” she told the Guardian. “I just want to go to school. Sometimes I put on my school uniform and just go and stand in the street.”

When Muhunthan’s scholarship visa first expired, the manager of the nursing home begged the Home Office to allow Sharmila to continue working. “We are in dire need of trained healthcare staff and we urge you to consider Mrs Sharmila Muhunthan’s right to work for us as a matter of urgency,” her manager wrote. The request was refused.

A year after lodging his asylum claim, Muhunthan was given permission by the Home Office to work because his area of expertise was listed as a shortage occupation. However, although he applied for university research jobs, the fact that he did not have UK residency deterred prospective employers.

Both John Penrose, the family’s Conservative MP in Weston-super-Mare, where they previously lived, and their lawyer, who has issued a legal challenge against the Home Office about its handling of the case, criticised the department’s treatment of the family.

In a letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, on 1 October, Penrose wrote: “This looks like a wholly avoidable situation which has been caused by UK visas and immigration working too slowly.”

The family’s lawyer, Naga Kandiah of MTC solicitors, said: “There is growing concern over the state of human rights in Sri Lanka, with the UN high commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, noting that ‘surveillance, intimidation and judicial harassment of human rights defenders, journalists and families of the disappeared has not only continued, but has broadened to a wider spectrum of students, academics, medical professionals and religious leaders critical of government policies’.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All asylum and human rights claims will be carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.”

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Presidential Spokesman Ajuri Ngelale Proceeds On Indefinite Leave Of Absence

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, has proceeded on an indefinite leave of absence.

Ngelale said the decision was taken after significant consultations with his family over the past days as a vexatious medical situation had worsened.

He made this known in a statement issued on Saturday to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

“On Friday, I submitted a memo to the Chief of Staff to the President informing my office that I am proceeding on an indefinite leave of absence to frontally deal with medical matters presently affecting my immediate, nuclear family,” he said.

“While I fully appreciate that the ship of state waits for no man, this agonizing decision — entailing a pause of my functions as the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity and Official Spokesperson of the President; Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen — was taken after significant consultations with my family over the past several days as a vexatious medical situation has worsened at home.

“I look forward to returning to full-time national service when time, healing, and fate permit. I respectfully ask for some privacy for my family and I during this time.”

The leave of absence implies that he would temporarily suspend his duties as spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu

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No tenure extension for IGP Egbetokun – Police

The Nigeria Police Force High Command has clarified the rumoured tenure extension for Inspector General of Police, Dr. Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, stating that there was no extension granted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Instead, the law governing the tenure of the IGP’s office was properly applied.

This clarification was made in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.

The statement reads, “the attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to various misleading reports and misinterpretations concerning the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, and wishes to categorically state that what His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, approved for the IGP is not an extension of tenure, but rather the proper application of the law governing the tenure of the office of the IGP.

“Contrary to the misinformation being circulated on social media and in the news, an appointment letter in circulation was issued to the IGP shortly after his appointment was confirmed by the Police Council.

This letter, dated 3rd November 2023, clearly stated that the President had approved a four-year tenure for the IGP in accordance with the provisions of Section 215(a) and Section 28(c) of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

” It is important to emphasize that the IGP does not need to lobby for any tenure extension as his appointment letter explicitly grants him a four-year tenure from the date of his appointment

“The ongoing circulation of false information is clearly the handiwork of pessimists and mischief makers who are determined to spread baseless narratives against the office and the personality of the IGP for obvious reasons and pecuniary gains.

” Furthermore, the IGP has since been issued with another letter in accordance with the provisions of the Police Act, 2020 (as amended), which supersedes the earlier correspondence.

This clarification is necessary to put an end to the speculations and falsehoods being spread.

” We urge the public to disregard the unfounded reports and to trust that the tenure of the IGP is in full compliance with the laws governing the Nigeria Police Force.

In clear terms, IGP’s tenure of office is not subject to unnecessary debate and should not be a source of perennial distraction to policing system in Nigeria. The law is sacrosanct.”

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EFCC grabs 44 for internet fraud in Kwara

Forty-four (44) suspected internet fraudsters were arrested at different locations in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State on Friday by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Spokesperson for EFCC, Dele Oyewale said in a statement on Friday that the suspects were arrested by the operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.

“They were arrested on Friday September 6, 2024 at Sango, Kulende, Taxaco and Harmony Estate, all in Ilorin, following credible intelligence over their alleged involvement internet- related offences,” the EFCC spokesperson said.

He listed items recovered from the suspects to include six different brands of exotic cars, laptops, smart phones and charms.

The suspects would be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations.

The Ilorin Directorate of the anti-graft agency had also arrested 56 suspected internet fraudsters two days ago.