Opinion ID: 621590
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Oshodi’s Asylum Application

Text: Oshodi, a citizen of Nigeria, requested asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under CAT based on his fear of persecution and torture due to his religion and political opinions. In his declaration, Oshodi stated that his mother was killed in 1968 by “anti-democratic officers” because of her political activities. When Oshodi was sixteen he joined the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), a group that opposed the security forces, and when he returned to Nigeria in 1981, he joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), a group that opposed the government and security forces. Oshodi described three incidents of persecution. First, Oshodi attended a rally against the government and was beaten by police, but escaped arrest. Second, in February, 1981, Oshodi and his friend drove through a police checkpoint after the police saw “political propaganda.” According to Oshodi, the police shot at the car and hit Oshodi’s friend, who died eight days later. The police detained and tortured Oshodi for two days until his uncle paid for his release. Thereafter, an open warrant was issued against Oshodi for failing to report for weekly monitoring. Third, on February 17, 1981, the police arrested Oshodi after he dropped a party member off at the airport. The police drove Oshodi to an unknown location where he was “shot in the foot, burnt with cigarettes, elctric [sic] shocked, beaten with swagger canes, pistol and riffle [sic] whipped, stripped nude” and sodomized with “swagger canes” and “dirty bottles”. After this incident, Oshodi returned to the United States.