On Thursday, August 14, 2025, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned a Canadian Federal Court ruling that classified Nigeria’s two dominant political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), as terrorist organizations, calling it “misinformed, biased, and lacking evidence,” as reported by Vanguard and Daily Post. The June 17, 2025, judgment by Justice Phuong Ngo upheld the Immigration Appeal Division’s (IAD) decision to deny asylum to Douglas Egharevba, a former PDP (1999–2007) and APC (2007–2017) member, under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), citing the parties’ involvement in political violence, ballot stuffing, and voter intimidation during the 2003 and 2004 elections, per Peoples Gazette. The PDP’s Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, urged Canadian authorities to target specific individuals, referencing unverified claims of a Boko Haram leader’s ties to an APC figure, and stressed that Nigeria’s democratic institutions should not be broadly labeled as terrorist entities.
Former NNPC Ltd. Chief Corporate Communications Officer Olufemi Soneye described the ruling as a “political earthquake” with global implications, warning that it risks visa denials and asylum rejections for Nigerians abroad and could erode democratic legitimacy by conflating dissent with extremism, per Vanguard. He cautioned that unchecked foreign judicial overreach could set a precedent for other nations’ politics to be judged similarly. The ruling, based on intelligence reports from Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, has sparked diplomatic tensions, with Nigeria’s foreign ministry planning a response, per ThisDay. X posts from @PDPNigeria and @SoneyeOfficial (August 14, 2025) echoed the condemnation, while @APCWatchNG defended the government, arguing the ruling reflects isolated historical incidents. The APC and Canada’s High Commission in Nigeria had not responded at press time, amid concerns over impacts on 12,000 Nigerian asylum seekers in Canada (IRCC, 2024).
Leave a Reply