Friday, November 13, 2026

Trump admin revokes Nigerian criminal Vivian Obichere’s U.S. citizenship

President Donald Trump’s administration revoked the U.S. citizenship of Nigerian national Vivian Chike Obichere for concealing her criminal record.

• October 22, 2026
Black female inmates in U.S.
Black female inmates in U.S. [Photo Credit: Aol]

President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked the U.S. citizenship of Nigerian national Vivian Chike Obichere for concealing her criminal record bordering on fraud and immigration malpractice.

Ms Obichere and a Cuban, Milagros Marileisis Acosta Torres, had their U.S. citizenship revoked on October 13 and 14, respectively, for not disclosing their prior criminal activity, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered the revocation of Ms Obichere’s citizenship after investigations found she illegally procured it.

According to the DOJ, Ms Obichere has a long history of defrauding the U.S. government.

In 1992, Ms Obichere fraudulently used the name, social security number, birthplace, and birthdate of an American to secure a U.S. passport and successfully renewed that fraudulent passport in 2002. In 2003, Ms Obichere became a lawful permanent resident under her true identity, the DOJ alleged.

It further alleged that in 2012 Ms Obichere once again attempted to renew the fraudulent passport issued under her alias ‘C.C.O.’ At the same time, she also applied to naturalise under her real name.

During her naturalisation interview, Ms Obichere testified under oath that she had not used the name ‘C.C.O.’, as the DOJ alleged.

According to the DOJ, in 2013, Ms Obichere became a naturalised U.S. citizen as her scheme to defraud the U.S. government was unravelling.

In 2015, Ms Obichere was convicted of False Statement in Application and Use of Passport in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. As part of her criminal conviction, Ms Obichere admitted to the lies, as well as many others she had told the U.S. government over the years.

The process of revoking Ms Obichere’s citizenship began on July 30, when the DOJ filed a denaturalisation complaint against her. On October 7, the DOJ filed a joint motion to enter a consent judgment revoking her naturalisation.

After hearing, the court issued a judgement revoking Ms Obichere’s citizenship on October 13.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it revoked over 300,000 U.S. visas issued to foreign nationals since January 2025.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Nigerian Bar Association

States

Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future

The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Oladipupo Adebutu

Politics

JUST IN: Court orders INEC to return Adebutu as Ogun PDP governorship candidate

The judgement, delivered on Friday by Justice Peter Lifu, said INEC had no right to remove any candidate sponsored by a political party without a court order.

Bassey Otu signing document

States

Gov Otu dissolves task force, orders compensation for demolished properties

Governor Bassey Otu dissolved the State Planning and Development Control Task Force after its members demolished a building.

Microsoft outage

Economy

Microsoft outage hits Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, millions of other users

The outage began on Thursday and lasted until Friday, affecting Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and ministries in Australia and Tokyo.

States

Police nab alleged murderers of motorcyclist in Rivers

The police command in Rivers has arrested two suspected cultists over the alleged murder of a motorcycle rider.

Felix Duke

Anti-Corruption

Court seizes Felix Duke’s passport as EFCC arraigns musician for N21 million fraud

EFCC has arraigned musician Felix Duke for an alleged N21.2 million fraud.

Amupitan being waylaid in UK

Diaspora

Irate Nigerians waylay INEC chair Amupitan in UK over alleged Tinubu, APC loyalty

Angry Nigerian protesters in the UK waylaid INEC chair Joash Amupitan for his perceived loyalty to President Bola Tinubu and the APC.