All Progressives Congress, on Thursday, dismissed the ruling of a Federal Court of Canada that classified the ruling party and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party as terrorist organisations.
On June 17, 2025, Justice Phuong Ngo reportedly ruled that the two major parties in Nigeria are terror organisations while denying asylum to one Douglas Egharevba over his decade-long affiliation with both political parties.
The court 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.
Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness reportedly argued that the APC and PDP were implicated in political violence, subversion of democracy and electoral bloodshed in Nigeria
The court records also showed that Egharevba was a PDP member from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC where he remained until 2017. He moved to Canada in September 2017 and disclosed his political history.
In his reaction to the judgement, APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Bashiru described the APC as a credible democratic political organisation, which does not seek legitimacy from a foreign bench and under a law that has no extra territorial application.
While the judgement, Bashiru noted that the presiding judge must be an ignoramus, arguing that APC was not party to the suit.
He 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 organisation.
“The so-called judgment was obviously delivered from a jaundiced perspective and within the narrow confines of determining eligibility for asylum by an applicant.
“The APC is a credible democratic political organisation and does not seek legitimacy from a foreign bench and under a law that has no extra territorial application.”
The APC national secretary, however, noted that “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.”
Reports said that the Canadian immigration authorities flagged Egharevba’s affiliations, citing intelligence reports linking both parties to electoral violence and politically motivated killings.
The IAD was also quoted to have based its decision largely on the PDP’s conduct during the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls, when the party allegedly engaged in ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and killing of opposition supporters.
The tribunal found that the party leadership benefited from the violence and took no action to stop it, meeting Canada’s legal definition of subversion under paragraph 34(1)(b.1) of the IRPA.
Justice Ngo affirmed that mere membership in an organisation linked to terrorism or democratic subversion is enough to trigger inadmissibility under paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA, even without proof of personal involvement.
