The Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed the disbarment appeal of Nigerian lawyer and politician, Owolabi Salis, for scamming immigration clients, exploiting their desperation to remain in the U.S. to fleece them of tens of thousands of dollars, a document seen by Peoples Gazette shows.
Mr Salis, 63, came into the limelight in June 2025 after becoming the first Nigerian to travel to space, an achievement that earned him widespread acclaim but also brought renewed scrutiny of his past and the misconduct that led to his 2022 disbarment by the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
“It is ordered that…the respondent, Owolabi M. Salis, is disbarred and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counsellors-at-law in the State of New York, effective the date hereof and continuing until further order of this court,” the disbarment decision stated.
He appealed the disbarment in 2023, but the New York Court of Appeals refused to reverse the ruling.
In 2023, federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, sought to enforce Mr Salis’s disbarment at the U.S. immigration board, where he would no longer be allowed to practise and represent individuals with immigration challenges.
The Nigerian lawyer opposed the motion. However, the board rejected Mr Salis’s request to dispute the motion and upheld the court’s previous ruling.
On August 13, 2025, the disciplinary counsel for EOIR and the disciplinary counsel for DHS filed a motion to reinstate the final order of disbarment in the respondent’s case, filings showed. By August 25, 2025, Mr Salis filed a response “in opposition to the motion”.
“The disciplinary counsel’s motion will be granted, and the respondent will be ordered disbarred from the practice of law before the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Immigration Courts, and DHS, effective December 21, 2022,” filings dated December 29, 2025, stated.
Apart from his legal woes, Mr Salis unsuccessfully ran for governor in Lagos in 2019.