Comrade Phils
| Comrade Phils | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 September 1983 Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Nigerian |
| 💼 Occupation | Citizen Journalist and Activist |
| Known for | Activism Social media |
Comrade Phils (born Philip Thomas, 9 November 1983) is a Nigerian human rights activist and citizen journalist known for exposing corruption [1]in the Nigerian immigration service and others.
Encounter With Prison Service[edit]
in 2017, Comrade Phils visited controversial journalist Kemi Olunlonyo, who was incarcerated in the Port Harcourt Maximum Prisons where he encountered first hand extortion and bribery [2]by Prison Service Officers. He shared experience on his Facebook wall and it went viral and led to a call for the release of the jailed journalist using the hash tag #FreeMadamKOO.
Encounter With the Immigration Service[edit]
In April 2019, A Nigerian online Newspaper, Wired Nigeria wrote that he was assaulted and walked out of the Immigration Office in Port Harcourt for refusing to pay a bribe and insisting on paying only government stipulated fee for his passport renewal. A video of the incident went viral attracting the attention[3] of the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Mohammed Babandede, who tweeted in his defense. A New York based news platform, Sahara Reporters wrote that the Immigration Authorities in Nigeria backed his case against officers who assaulted him for refusing to pay a bribe[4]. His passport was later renewed and the offending officer are currently on investigation by the Immigration Office. The issues of similar corrupt incidents in the Nigerian Immigration services dates back to a report in 2017[5].
Saving A Trafficked Nigerian Girl[edit]
While traveling to Kigali to speak at an event organized by AMAA via the Kenya Airways, he met a young Nigerian girl trafficked to Oman[6] from Lagos, Nigeria. He engaged her and convinced her to abort the journey and alerted the management of the Kenya Airways who assisted in returning her on another flight back to Lagos.
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- ↑ Newsroom (2019-04-05). "Activist Ordered Out of Immigration Office For Refusing to Pay Bribe". WIRED Nigeria. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ↑ siteadmin (2017-11-22). "My Experience Visiting Prominent Blogger, Kemi Olunloyo In Port Harcourt Maximum Security Prison". Sahara Reporters. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ↑ Olagoke, Bode (2019-04-05). "Another bribery scandal rocks Nigeria Immigration Service". Blueprint. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ↑ siteadmin (2019-04-06). "Nigeria Immigration Boss Vows To Help Complainant Report Bribe-Seeking Officer To Anti-Corruption Agencies". Sahara Reporters. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ↑ "INVESTIGATION: Corruption, extortion reign at Nigeria Immigration passport office (Part 1)". Premium Times Nigeria. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ↑ "Citizen Journalist Narrates How They Saved A Girl That Was Being Trafficked To Oman, Dubai". BigPen Online. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
