Awolesi v. Ashcroft

PRECEDENTIAL Argued January 21, 2003 OPINION OF THE COURT This is a petition for review of an extremely terse (four sentence) order by the Board of Immigration Appeals (""BIA""), reversing the decision of the Immigration Judge (""IJ"") granting the applications for asylum of petitioners, Joseph Awolesi (""Awolesi""), and his son Ebenezer (whose claim is derivative of Joseph's). Awolesi testified before the IJ that his brother, Matthew Awolesi (""Matthew""), a member of the pro-democracy party in Nigeria and an elected member of the local community council, was the target of ambush and assassination attempts by the security forces of the ruling party in Nigeria and is now in hiding. Awolesi, who used the proceeds from his successful pharmaceutical company in Nigeria to fund Matthew's political career, argues that if returned to Nigeria, he would be persecuted by the government, which believes that he is a member of the pro-democracy party (based on Matthew's association with the party). On the basis of the evidence supporting these claims, the IJ concluded that Awolesi and Ebenezer had shown a well-founded fear of persecution on account of imputed political opinion.