Okungbowa Hubert Igbinoba, a Nigerian who also holds Australian citizenship, has sued the Oceanian country for what he termed systemic racism.

While appearing in late February before a federal circuit court in Australia, Igbinoba said he had been detained 32 times at Sydney Airport, without allegation or charge. The hearing resumes in March.

He added that he is stopped and searched almost every time he enters the country’s border force because he is black.

Igbinoba also claimed that the Australian government offered him an $80,000 settlement in an attempt to silence him.

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“‘Take $80,000 and shut up’ — that is what the commonwealth is saying,” Igbinoba told the court, accusing Australian Border Force of engaging in “systemic racism”.

“They try to silence me by offering me money. I am treated like a criminal. This is how border force treats people who look like me.

“They have been acting illegally and it has to stop.”

Igbinoba said the Australian border officials had breached the Racial Discrimination Act by consistently singling him out for interrogation because he is black. He owns a freight shipping business that requires regular international travel.

Between February 1998 and January 2020, he was detained at Sydney Airport 32 times — almost every time he entered Australia.

During each search, Igbinoba was isolated by border officials, interrogated, searched and patted down. On such encounters, his luggage was emptied and inspected, and his laptop and mobile phone were confiscated and searched.

On some occasions, he was detained for up to four hours.

During each of the entries, Igbinoba said he did not observe or see any of the Australian Border Force officers detain, question or search any of his fellow travellers who were of apparent Anglo-Saxon, Caucasian or Asian ethnicity.

None of the detentions led to the discovery of any evidence of a potential crime.

Igbinoba, an Australian citizen since 2004, has no criminal history, convictions or associations, and has never been charged with or engaged in any customs or immigration offences.

The case has been before the courts since 2020. An attempt at mediation in 2022 failed to reach a resolution.

The Australian government has, however, argued that there is no evidence that Igbinoba was ever discriminated against or targeted.

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Several border force officers have told the court they stopped Igbinoba because there was an alert in its border management systems.

The government also defended the officers, saying they acted because there was an ‘alert’ attached to him as a person of interest which required them to carry out the instructions on the alert.

Igbinoba subsequently applied for an adjournment in a bid to introduce new evidence from “co-travellers” who had flown into the country with him and had witnessed the way he was treated.

“The truth must come out. It’s in the interests of justice,” he said.

Upon the government’s legal representative’s objection, the presiding judge dismissed Igbinoba’s adjournment application and said the hearing would proceed in March.