Tobi Adegboyega, the founder of “the Church of Bling”, the controversial SPAC Nation which was closely linked to the Conservative Party in Croydon, is to be deported to Nigeria, having been living in this country illegally for almost 20 years.

Deported: Tobi Adegboyega was an illegal immigrant while working with Croydon Tories

Adeboyega had brought an appeal to the immigration tribunal, where he claimed that deportation would breach his right under the European Convention of Human Rights to a family life, due to his marriage to a British woman.

Earlier this year, the Charity Commission handed out lengthy bans for four other leading figures in  Adeboyega’s cult-like church, following a four-year investigation into its dodgy activities.

Inside Croydon first reported in 2019 how SPAC, the Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church, was accused of a wide range of dubious behaviour and misconduct, from controlling abuse of young people, to getting young church members to sell their own blood, to sexual abuse, to organised fraud, and how it was subject to a Met Police fraud squad investigation.

SPAC Nation was shut down after failing to properly account for more than £1.87million of outgoings and operating with a lack of transparency.

Last year, Forbes magazine reported at some length how SPAC Nation pastors had been involved in something called Women of the City magazine, in which a prominent figure was Mariam Mola. Forbes described Mola as “an infamous career con-artist”. Mola was also one of SPAC Nation’s pastors.

Church of Bling: Tobi Adeboyega’s Lamborghini, with its cherish number plates

Now, the immigration tribunal has ruled that Adegboyega, 44, should be deported.

“Bling-loving” Adegboyega, who styled himself as a “pastor”, lived in a £2.5million mansion, with its own swimming pool, on a private estate in the Shirley Hills.

It was said that at one point, the Shirley Hills mansion was operating as a trap house for almost two dozen youngsters, all of them with criminal records.

At his immigration tribunal hearing, Adeboyega said that the attempt to remove him by the Home Office failed to take account of his “community work” with SPAC. His legal team claimed that he had “intervened in the lives of many hundreds of young people, predominantly from the black communities in London, to lead them away from trouble”.

He claimed his work had been “lauded” by politicians including Boris Johnson and senior figures within the Metropolitan Police, although no testimony by them was submitted to the court. He said that without his personal presence in London, projects that he had masterminded would fall apart or reduce in size.

However, the tribunal was told the Home Office contended “all is not as it seems”.

Privileged guest: illegal immigrant Adegboyega visited No10 in May 2018 – when Gavin Barwell was Downing Street Chief of Staff

“Various manifestations of [Adegboyega’s] church have been closed down, by either the Charity Commission or the High Court, because of concerns over its finances and lack of transparency,” according to the judgement.

“Former members of the church have alleged that it is a cult, in which impoverished young people are encouraged to do anything they can to donate money, including taking out large loans, committing benefit fraud and even selling their own blood.

“It is alleged that the church leadership lead lavish lifestyles and there have, it is said, been instances of abuse. The [Home Office’s] case before us was that all of this needs to be taken into account when evaluating whether [Mr Adegboyega] is in fact of real value to the UK.”

Adegboyega arrived in Britain in 2005 on a visitor’s visa, and over-stayed. In 2019, he applied for leave to remain under ECHR’s right to a family life. His application was dismissed, prompting his appeal.

In the tribunal, he maintained no one had ever faced criminal charges over his church’s finances, that many of the attacks on him and SPAC Nation were “politically motivated” and that claims it was a cult were unfounded.

Tory candidate: under Adegboyega’s leadership, SPAC became close to the local Conservatives, and in 2019 Jayde Edwards (centre, black coat), a church ‘pastor’, was installed as Tory candidate in a council by-election, where she had the support of William Perry (centre, second row, behind Edwards), the son of Jason Perry

The tribunal was told the Charity Commission concluded “there had been serious misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity which was sustained over a substantial period of time”.

The tribunal also found Adegboyega’s evidence to be “hyperbolic in many instances” and had “sought to grossly inflate his influence”.

The tribunal concluded: “We are not satisfied that the good work that SPAC Nation undertakes generally would collapse or even significantly suffer should the Appellant be required to leave the UK.

“Weighing all of the foregoing in the balance we conclude that the decision to refuse leave to remain was wholly proportionate.”

Read more: Four SPAC Nation members get charity bans of 10+ years
Read more: Cult Church of Bling wound-up over ‘suspicious’ operations
Read more: Tory candidate’s church is under police investigation for fraud
Read more: ‘Don’t call us cult-like’ says cult-like SPAC Nation

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