Dermot Ahern and his intrepid band of truth seekers at the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána may have proved to their own satisfaction that Pamela Izevbekhai has been using faked documents in her bid to avoid deportation to Nigeria. But they haven't yet come close to undermining her core argument that her daughters would be in danger if they were forced to make such a journey.

Before we go on, let's travel back in time. Despite small improvements in recent years, Nigeria has been for a long while one of the most corrupt nations in the world. In 1998, a survey by Transparency International ranked it as the 81st most corrupt country of 85 surveyed. In 2001, its ranking was 90th of 91 countries. In 2003, one hundred and forty six countries were surveyed; Nigeria was in 144th position. It was run on kickbacks and bribes; no sector of society was immune. Politics, as you might expect, was particularly badly affected; the police service as well. So too, according to a 2007 book on corruption in Nigeria, was the country's health service. "Fake drugs, phony diagnoses, bogus treatment regimes and charlatan services are all too common", wrote Daniel Jordan Smith in A Culture Of Corruption: Everyday Deception and Popular Discontent in Nigeria. "Corruption riddles the formal government health system". In malaria cases, for example, doctors deliberately misdiagnosed typhoid because the medicines to cure that illness were more expensive.

Dr Joseph Unokanjo from Lagos is Dermot Ahern's star witness in his fight to prove Pamela Izevbekhai a liar. No independent individual or organisation has spoken in detail to this doctor since he told the garda national immigration unit that he had not delivered a baby called Elizabeth Izevbekhai at his hospital in Lagos, had not subsequently treated her for post-circumcision complications, had not signed an affidavit purported to have been sworn by him and had not issued a certificate of the cause of death. The Sunday Times and The Irish Times did try to speak to him, but he asked for €5,000 for his cooperation. According to Pamela Izevbekhai, her husband forged those documents because of a similar request for payment when the originals were sought.

We should treat Dr Unokanjo with as much skepticism as we do Izevbekhai and her forged documents until his claims, his credibility and his hunger for hard cash are examined and investigated, preferably in an Irish court.

We know very little about him so far, other than what we have been told by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, hardly an objective voice in the whole affair.

He may well be telling the absolute truth – and for free – but until we see him and hear what he has to say, we should reserve judgement.

If he ever did show his face in an Irish courtroom, Dr Unokanjo could be asked for his views on the practice of female genital mutilation in Nigeria, which has been the central point of the Izevbekhai asylum claim. Since Izevbekhai became a cause célèbre in recent years, the Nigerian embassy has regularly denied that FGM is a factor in Nigerian life. As recently as 1 April, the country's ambassador to Ireland, Kema Chikwe, told The Irish Times that fgm was a "non-existent issue" in Nigeria. Izevbekhai had "selfishly disparaged Nigeria" by claiming her daughters would be in danger there, Her Excellency said. "She has dented the image of the nation making it look like a barbaric country."

Chikwe should check in with her employers every now and again. Last year, the Nigerian government acknowledged to the UN that the prevalence of fgm in Nigeria was up to 65% in some areas. "Surprisingly, the rate was higher in the urban than in the rural areas of the country," the government submission said. No matter what Chikwe might believe, female genital mutilation is a clear and present danger in Nigeria. Whatever else we might think of Izevbekhai's approach to her asylum claim, her fears in that regard are entirely justifiable.

Nobody is coming out of this story well. Izevbekhai has used forged documents, a stupid if understandable thing to do, undermining her own case and potentially hundreds of others in the future. The Department of Justice and the gardaí have put all their eggs in the basket of somebody who raises many more questions than the answers he has allegedly provided. The Nigerian ambassador has been talking through one of her colourful hats. Meanwhile, Jemima and Naomi, the daughters of Pamela Izevbekhai, and the only innocents in all of this, await the outcome of their mother's apparently doomed legal fight. It looks like they will ultimately have to depend on Dermot Ahern to allow them to stay, on humanitarian grounds. It's a rarely used ministerial power, but one that seems justifiable in this case. With more than 99% of Nigerian applicants refused asylum in this country, it's not like the minister would be opening any floodgates.

ddoyle@tribune.ie

George Hamilton: A fan with a microphone

The fuss over Eamon Dunphy's relatively restrained (and mostly spot on) comments during Ireland's match against Italy on Wednesday has hidden the real scandal of RTE's coverage – George Hamilton's commentary. When co-commentator Jim Beglin questioned whether Italy's Giampaolo Pazzini deserved to be sent off three minutes into the game, he was ridiculed by Hamilton and accused of wearing a "blue jersey". Replays showed that Beglin was correct and was doing his job as a balanced commentator. Hamilton (below), by contrast, was merely cheerleading; he was the broadcast equivalent of what Dunphy used to call "fans with typewriters". What a pity the match wasn't on Sky.