Samuel Omang
Nigeria’s two major political parties — the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) — have strongly condemned a ruling by a Canadian Federal Court that classified both as terrorist organisations.
The judgment, delivered on June 17, 2025, by Justice Phuong Ngo, upheld an earlier Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) decision denying asylum to Nigerian national Douglas Egharevba due to his decade-long affiliation with the two parties. Court records show Egharevba was a PDP member from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC until 2017, when he moved to Canada and disclosed his political background.
According to filings, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness argued that both parties were linked to political violence, democratic subversion, and electoral bloodshed. The court cited incidents such as the PDP’s alleged role in the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls, which reportedly involved ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and the killing of opposition supporters.
The IAD concluded that party leadership benefited from the violence and failed to stop it, thus meeting Canada’s legal definition of subversion under paragraph 34(1)(b.1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Justice Ngo further ruled that under paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA, mere membership in an organisation linked to terrorism or democratic subversion could render an individual inadmissible — even without proof of direct participation.
PDP: Verdict “Misinformed and Biased”
The PDP rejected the classification as “misinformed, biased, and lacking evidence.” Deputy National Youth Leader Timothy Osadolor told newsmen that Nigeria and Canada are both democracies, stressing that while freedom of speech is important, it should not be used for “unguarded and unnecessary statements.”
“There’s nothing to show that the APC or the PDP is a terrorist organisation,” he said. “If they wanted to allege that certain individuals in government, particularly the APC administration, had links to terrorism, they might have a case — but to label entire political parties this way is wrong.”
Former NNPC spokesperson Olufemi Soneye also warned that the ruling could set a dangerous precedent. “If democratic nations don’t push back on this overreach, they may one day find their own politics on trial in a foreign court,” he said. He added that such labels could lead to denied visas, rejected asylum claims, and strained diplomatic relations, while also being used to silence opposition and erode civil liberties.
APC: “No Jurisdiction, No Legitimacy”
Similarly, the APC dismissed the ruling as baseless. National Secretary Senator Ajibola Bashiru described the presiding judge as “an ignoramus” and insisted that the party is a credible democratic institution that does not “seek legitimacy from a foreign bench” under a law with no extraterritorial authority.
“The court has no jurisdiction to determine the status of a Nigerian-recognised political party, let alone declare it a terrorist organisation,” Bashiru told The Nation. “The so-called judgment was delivered from a jaundiced perspective within the narrow confines of deciding asylum eligibility.”
He further criticised “desperate and unpatriotic Nigerians” who, in his view, allow the country’s name to be tarnished by “racist judges” in pursuit of asylum.
Both parties have urged Canadian authorities to focus on individual accountability rather than issuing broad classifications they say could damage Nigeria’s democratic image abroad and undermine political legitimacy.