Assimonye

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Charles Nnaemeka Assimonye, a native and citizen of Nigeria, seeks review of the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal from the denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 (b)(3) or the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Adopting the oral decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ), the BIA determined that (1) Assimonye was ineligible for asylum because he did not file his application before the one-year filing deadline 1 and (2) Assimonye was not entitled to withholding of removal because he failed to establish past persecution or a clear probability of future persecution or torture.

In determining that Assimonye did not qualify for withholding of removal, neither the IJ nor the BIA made an express adverse credibility finding, so we accept as true Assimonye’s factual allegations. E.g., Deloso v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 858, 861 (9th *545 Cir.2005); Leiva-Montalvo v. INS, 173 F.3d 749, 750 (9th Cir.1999). Those facts establish clearly that Assimonye suffered past persecution in Nigeria on account of his membership in the Organisation for the Restoration of Biafra (ORB) and “Biafra,” a…