Nigerian man’s nudity arrest sparks US political row

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested a Nigerian man, Chimaobim Igbojekwe, for stripping himself naked in public.

Igbojekwe was arrested by police in East Pennsboro Township on September 27 for removing his pants in a neighbourhood park, thereby revealing his genitals to residents including children.

According to the Washington Times on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge until the ICE charged him with illegal residency in the US.

The Department of Homeland Security said the Nigerian was a campaigner for a Democrat, Janelle Stelson, seeking to unseat Republican representative Scott Perry in a congressional campaign in Pennsylvania.

According to the report, he had campaign literature in his vehicle.

Igbojekwe was sitting in his SUV with just a shirt and no pants or underwear, leaving his genitals exposed, when the police approached him.

The US authorities said they were surprised to learn that he was an illegal migrant.

But the Stelson campaign has dismissed the report that the Nigerian was part of his campaign team.

“If he is an illegal immigrant who committed a crime he should be deported. We never heard of him prior to the news of his arrest. We are grateful to law enforcement for acting swiftly to arrest him,” it said.

However, ICE Deputy Director, Charles Wall, criticised Stelson for hiring an illegal migrant into his team.

“It’s unbelievable that Janelle Stelson would employ an illegal alien to work on a congressional campaign, let alone a pervert who exposed himself in public,” Wall said.

DHS said Igbojekwe came to the US in June 2017 on a legal visa but his time expired in 2019.

He has remained in the US illegally since then and was granted deferred action, a deportation amnesty, under former President Joe Biden in 2021.(Punch)