By Ademola Adekusibe
September 23, 2025
Anthony Olubunmi George, a 63-year-old Nigerian man who has lived in the United Kingdom for almost four decades, has won a legal appeal allowing him to remain in the country despite previous attempts by the Home Office to deport him.
George arrived in the UK in 1986 at the age of 24 and has not left since. He has no criminal record but has endured years of hardship, including periods of homelessness and serious health challenges. In 2019, he suffered two strokes that left him with speech and mobility difficulties.
Complications over his immigration status stemmed from a forged passport stamp submitted by his former solicitors in 2005, which he maintains he knew nothing about. Those solicitors have since been struck off, but the issue delayed his case for years. His current lawyer, Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors, argued that poor legal representation had left George destitute and in limbo for decades.
The tribunal judge, in the ruling delivered last week, considered George’s fragile health, the absence of close family support in Nigeria, and the fact that he had stopped seeking medical care out of fear that his undocumented status would expose him to deportation.
The decision brings an end to years of uncertainty for George, who said the ruling had given him a new lease on life. “My life has just begun,” he was quoted as saying after the judgment.
The Home Office has not commented on the tribunal’s decision.
