And even if it were true, Nigeria is a very big country, and Boko Haram have absolutely no influence at all in vast swathes of it.

"...Nigeria is a very big country, and Boko Haram have absolutely no influence at all in vast swathes of it."

You don't know what you're talking about. The government's own travel advice says:
"Boko Haram regularly mounts attacks in northern Nigeria. The majority of attacks occur in the north east, particularly in Borno and Yobe states where Boko Haram’s operating base is. There has, however, been a significant number of attacks in other Nigerian states and further attacks could occur anywhere."
 https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/nigeria/terrorism

Apart from which, the fact that this guy is desperate enough to have starved himself for 3 months - probably causing permanent damage to himself already - speaks volumes.

Please support the vigil outside Harmondsworth detention centre. Sunday 24th November / Monday 25th November

Isa has been on hunger strike for almost three months. He is now dangerously ill. Last week a judge refused to release him from detention because the Home Office had issued him removal directions even though Isa is too sick to move from his mattress on the floor in the detention centre’s medical centre.

The Home Office are refusing to release Isa because they believe he is deliberately starving himself for trivial reasons. Earlier this week they drew up an “End-of Life” plan with Isa including helping him to write his will. The Home Office have hardened their stance towards hunger strikers in detention since releasing four men on medical grounds earlier this year.

Isa has been clear. He started his protest because the food he was being given in the detention centre exacerbated several related medical conditions he suffers from. Since then he has widened his protest to include the way he has been treated within the detention centre since beginning his protest.

He’s now demanding to be released so he can receive medical treatment in hospital without being treated as a criminal.

Members of Unity who have been supporting Isa since before he started his hunger strike travelled down to Harmondsworth on Wednesday night and have been holding vigils outside the detention centre every-day in support of Isa with friends and supporters from London.

At the hearing last week the judge agreed to hear Isa’s appeal early due to the fact that Isa was so unwell. It will now be on Monday.

Please come and join the people on the vigil outside Harmondsworth to call for Isa’s release –

Sunday 24th November 2pm - 8pm
Monday 25th November 8.30am – 5pm.

Please don’t worry if you cannot make the whole time. Come along to spend an hour standing up for Isa with us. Please bring candles sleeping bags and banners.

Accommodation overnight on Sunday night is available at the Grow-Heathrow site nearby.

For more details contact the Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ Tel: 0141 427 7992 or the vigil phone 07448617766

Asylum is a very specific sort of claim of right to remain in another country.

To the person who argued why not remain in some safer part of Nigeria, no, that possibility would not make invalid a claim to asylum.

But how did Isa get to Britain? A claim for asylum can properly only be made in the FIRST country one has escaped to from where endangered that might be willing to grant asylum. Once having reached a safe haven country and received asylum there one cannot necessarily go into another, ask for asylum, and expect to be granted it. Now there might be good reasons for trying to get to some country other than the one in which one was safe from the original threat. The second move is usually for some other reason and the second country can refuse to grant the asylum request.

So please don't leave out this important detail. You are asking for our support and have an obligation to provide that information regardless of the possibility that YOU might have some non-standard definition of "asylum".