The Federal Court of Canada has upheld a ruling that classified Nigeria’s two dominant political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – as terrorist organisations, in a decision that also denied asylum to former member, Douglas Egharevba, over his decade-long affiliation with both parties.
In a judgment delivered on June 17, 2025, Justice Phuong Ngo dismissed Egharevba’s application for judicial review after the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) found him inadmissible under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
According to court filings cited by Peoples Gazette, the Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness argued that the APC and PDP were implicated in political violence, subversion of democracy and electoral bloodshed in Nigeria.
Records show that Egharevba was a PDP member from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC, where he remained until 2017. He relocated to Canada in September 2017, disclosing his political affiliations during the immigration process.
Canadian immigration authorities flagged his memberships based on intelligence reports linking both parties to electoral violence and politically motivated killings.
The IAD’s decision heavily referenced the PDP’s alleged conduct during the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls, citing ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and the killing of opposition supporters. The tribunal concluded that the party’s leadership benefited from the violence and took no action to stop it, meeting Canada’s definition of subversion under paragraph 34(1)(b.1) of the IRPA.
Justice Ngo affirmed that under paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA, mere membership in an organisation linked to terrorism or democratic subversion is sufficient grounds for inadmissibility, regardless of personal involvement.
Egharevba’s argument that political violence is widespread across all Nigerian parties was rejected, with the court ruling that even flawed Nigerian elections qualify as a democratic process under Canadian law — and undermining them amounts to subversion.
This ruling effectively ends Egharevba’s asylum bid, with deportation proceedings now expected to follow.
