As a citizen of a country, we are supposed to be afforded certain rights and protections. But sometimes, the very people who are supposed to uphold those rights are the very ones to violate them.
After moving to Canada from Nigeria and becoming a naturalized citizen, 1 man spent the next two decades building a life for himself and his family. Tragically, however, it was all ripped away from him thanks to a border agent’s mistake…
A Regular Morning
On the morning of Wednesday, June 1, 2016, a Canadian citizen woke up and got ready for work like he did every other weekday. Once he was ready for the day, he left his home and planned to go straight to work at a local hair salon, which he owned.
Completely Surrounded
However, when the man walked out of his home, he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. His home was completely surrounded by Canada Border Service agent. “I was confused, really confused,” the resident said…
Sweeping The Area
The man asked the agents what was going on and they explained they were doing a sweep of the area. “It took me five minutes just to get to my car,” the man explained. However, when he tried to drive off to work, some agents stopped him from leaving.
The Questions Begin
The agent asked for the man’s name and asked him to present official documents that could prove his identity. As requested, the man told the officer his name and showed the agents several forms of official identification, including a citizenship document and a government-issued health card…
Ignoring The Proof
All of the documents were in Olajide Ogunye’s name, which would normally be enough to prove someone’s identity. However, the agents, who had just finished searching the 47-year-old’s home, claimed the documents weren’t enough to prove Ogunye was who he was claiming to be.
A Minor Inconvenience
Since the agents weren’t satisfied with Ogunye’s IDs, they explained that they needed to bring him to their office to ‘sort this out’. It was a slight inconvenience, but Ogunye thought that everything would be cleared up quickly once they got back to the office…
A Simple Test
The agents brought Ogunye to the Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre, the Canada Border Service Agent’s base office at Pearson airport. Once they arrived, they explained that they simply needed to fingerprint him to prove his identity.
Nothing To Hide
Since Ogunye had nothing to hide and was telling the truth about his identity, he was happy to give his fingerprints and prove once and for all that he was who he said he was. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what happened…
Indisputable Evidence
After taking his fingerprints, the agents said that the prints didn’t match those that were on file for Olajide Ogunye. Instead, they told him that the prints, which they never showed him, came back as a match for a refugee that had illegally returned to the country after being deported.
The Truth About His Past
The 47-year-old was stunned and insisted that he was Olajide Ogunye, a naturalized Canadian citizen who moved to Canada from Nigeria with his parents and siblings in 1990 and became a citizen when he was 26 years old in 1996…
The Refugee
The border agents, however, insisted that he was lying to them and that his real identity was Oluwafemi Kayode Johnson, a failed refugee claimant who they believed had illegally returned to Canada after he was deported in the 1990s and was impersonating Ogunye.
The Arrest
After that, the agents arrested Ogunye and booked him into Maplehurst Correctional Complex, a maximum-security prison. “I was confused, really confused,” Ogunye said about the moment he was locked away in a prison full of dangerous criminals and offenders…
Violating His Rights
“It was very frustrating. Somebody telling you you’re not your name. I showed them all my IDs. I showed them my citizenship. How are you going to put a Canadian citizen in jail,” Ogunye said. “I wasn’t expecting something like that to me as a Canadian citizen.”
8 Months Of Hell
For the next 8 months, Ogunye was imprisoned first in the Maplehurst Correctional Complex and then later at the Central East Correctional Centre, which is another maximum-security about 2 hours away. For Ogunye, those 248 days were pure hell…
Deteriorating Health
While in prison, Ogunye was assaulted by fellow inmates and had no contact with family members because of lockdowns that occurred almost every single day. According to Ogunye, he was put on suicide watch as his physical and emotional health rapidly deteriorated.
Suicide Watch
“One time, for the whole month, I was crying non-stop. I was crying continuously,” Ogunye said. “The nurse had to give me depression pills to make me calm down.” In addition to the depression medication, Ogunye was also put on medications for high blood pressure and a prostate condition…
The Investigation
Meanwhile, the border service agents were supposed to be investigating his case. Yet his brother and sister weren’t contacted and interviewed until 6 months after his arrest. Ogunye’s siblings confirmed that Ogunye wasn’t Johnson and after 8 months in prison, they finally released Ogunye in February 2017.
A Different Life
On February 4, 2017, Ogunye was overwhelmed with joy and relief when he was finally able to prove his identity and was given his freedom back. Unfortunately, the life waiting for him outside of prison was drastically different than the life he had before he was wrongly imprisoned…
The Lawsuit
“They put me through a lot. They destroyed my life. I lost my job,” Ogunye said after being released from prison. “They destroyed my family. I don’t have a good relationship with my kids anymore. I don’t think that’s going to come back.” Now, Ogunye is suing the government for $10 million for violating his rights as a citizen.
Fighting For Justice
Ogunye also wants to make sure that no one else has to go through what he was forced to endure. “For them to keep someone in jail for eight months… it is not really a good thing. I hope they don’t do this to somebody else and that is one of the reasons why I’m bringing this to court,” Ogunye said. “It is shocking,” said Adam Hummel, Ogunye’s lawyer. “The very fact that this happened, someone who was approached and showed he was a Canadian citizen, means that it could happen to anyone if this is how [border agents] are operating.”
Canadian Citizen Suing Government After Border Agent’s Error Ruined His Life is an article from: LifeDaily