Nigeria’s two major political parties — the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) — have rejected and condemned a ruling by a Federal Court in Canada that classified both organisations as terrorist groups.
The controversial judgment, delivered on June 17, 2025, by Justice Phuong Ngo, upheld an earlier Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) decision to deny asylum to Nigerian national Douglas Egharevba over his long-term membership in the PDP and APC, according to media reports.
Court records show that Egharevba belonged to the PDP from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC until 2017, when he moved to Canada and revealed his political history.
In submissions before the court, the Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness alleged that both parties had been involved in political violence, democratic subversion, and electoral bloodshed.
The claims cited incidents including the PDP’s alleged conduct during the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls — events reportedly marked by ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and the killing of opposition supporters.
The IAD found that party leaders benefited from the violence and took no meaningful action to stop it, concluding that the conduct met Canada’s 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 of an organisation linked to terrorism or democratic subversion” could render a person inadmissible to Canada — even without proof of personal participation.
Reacting to the ruling, the PDP described the classification as “misinformed, biased, and lacking evidence,” calling for the judgment’s outright dismissal.
Speaking to Vanguard on Thursday, PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, said: “Nigeria and Canada are both democracies. And I’m sure those who make such statements enjoy their right to freedom of speech. But again, when having freedom of speech, one should be circumspect about unguarded and unnecessary statements. There’s nothing to show, there’s nothing on text to show that even the malfunctioning APC is a terrorist organisation or the PDP, which is a credible institution.”
Osadolor added: “If they wanted to say that some individuals in the government, particularly the APC government, have traces to terrorism… they will have a case. But to say an entire political party is a terrorist organisation is wrong.”
The APC also dismissed the ruling as unfounded. Its National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, labelled the presiding judge “an ignoramus” and insisted that the APC is “a credible democratic political organization” which “does not seek legitimacy from a foreign bench and under a law that has no extra territorial application.”
Quoting The Nation, Bashiru said:
“The court has no jurisdiction to determine the status of a Nigerian recognised political party not to talk of declaring it as a terrorist organization… The so-called judgment was obviously delivered from a jaundiced perspective and within the narrow confines of determining eligibility for asylum by an applicant.”
He also criticised what he called unpatriotic acts by some Nigerians:
“It is unfortunate that some desperate and unpatriotic Nigerians will allow the name of the country to be brought to unpalatable commentary by racist judges on account of self contrived application for asylum.”
Both parties have urged Canadian authorities to focus on holding individuals accountable rather than issuing broad classifications that, in their view, harm Nigeria’s democratic reputation and strain diplomatic relations.
