Canadian Court Labels APC, PDP Terrorist Groups, Denies Ex-Member Asylum

The Federal Court of Canada has upheld a decision labeling Nigeria’s two dominant political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as organizations linked to terrorism and democratic subversion, resulting in the denial of asylum to Douglas Egharevba, a former member of both parties.

In a ruling delivered on June 17, 2025, Justice Phuong Ngo rejected Egharevba’s bid to overturn an earlier verdict by the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD), which found him inadmissible under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

According to Peoples Gazette, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness argued that both APC and PDP had long been implicated in political violence, electoral malpractice, and bloodshed.

Court records show that Egharevba belonged to the PDP from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC, where he remained until 2017. After relocating to Canada in September 2017, he disclosed his political affiliations, which immigration authorities flagged based on intelligence reports linking both parties to widespread violence and killings.

The IAD cited the PDP’s alleged ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and attacks on opposition members during the 2003 state and 2004 local elections. The tribunal concluded that party leaders benefited from the violence and failed to stop it, meeting Canada’s legal standard for subversion under paragraph 34(1)(b.1) of the IRPA.

Justice Ngo ruled that under paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA, mere membership in an organisation connected to terrorism or democratic subversion is sufficient to render an individual inadmissible — even without proof of direct involvement.

Egharevba’s argument that electoral violence affected all Nigerian political parties was dismissed. The court also affirmed that even flawed Nigerian elections still qualify as a democratic process under Canadian law, and undermining them constitutes subversion.

With this judgment, Egharevba’s asylum claim has been definitively rejected, and deportation proceedings are expected to commence.