A Nigerian pastor whose church was shut down over an alleged £1.87 million fraud has lost his fight against deportation, despite claiming it would breach his human rights.
An immigration tribunal has ruled that Tobi Adegboyega, 44, the cousin of John Boyega, the Star Wars actor, should be deported back to his native Nigeria.
Mr Adegboyega was head of SPAC Nation, a controversial church shut down after failing to properly account for more than £1.87 million of outgoings and operating with a lack of transparency.
He claimed deportation would breach his right under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to a family life – having married a British woman. He also said the attempt to remove him by the Home Office failed to take account of his community work with SPAC.
Describing a “charismatic” community leader of a large, well-organised church, his legal team claimed that he had “intervened in the lives of many hundreds of young people, predominantly from the black communities in London, to lead them away from trouble”.
