UI2022004320

             The appellant challenges the decision of the First-tier Tribunal, promulgated on 22 July 2022, dismissing his appeal against the respondent's 25 June 2021 decision to deprive him of his British citizen status, acquired in a Sierra Leonean identity to which he was not entitled. He is a citizen of Nigeria.

             For the reasons set out in this decision, we have come to the conclusion that the making of the previous decision involved the making of an error on a point of law. We have remade the decision and dismissed the appeal .

             The Secretary of State did not believe the appellant's account and on 17 April 2001 his asylum claim was refused. However on 10 May 2001 she granted him exceptional leave to remain (now discretionary leave), given the difficult circumstances in Sierra Leone at the time. On 15 September 2005, she granted him indefinite leave to remain, and on 8 February 2007, British citizen status. All of these steps occurred in the appellant's Sierra Leonean identity .

             On 11 March 2015, the appellant sought a change of name, reflecting a deed poll (his second), but on 13 August 2015, the respondent refused to allow a change of name.

             On 30 July 2018, the appellant provided a declaration from his paternal cousin, Mr James Atikporu Oghenovo, confirming that they had met at college in London in 2015 and Mr Oghenovo told the appellant he was a Nigerian citizen and his real name. On 13 August 2018, the appellant made a declaration to the same effect.