The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned a Canadian court ruling declaring Nigeria’s two major political parties, the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as terrorist organisations, calling the claim “misinformed, biased, and lacking evidence” and urging that it be dismissed outright.
Former Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, also decried the verdict, calling it a “political earthquake with consequences that could reverberate far beyond Canada’s borders” and warning that “if democratic nations don’t push back on this kind of overreach, they may one day find their own politics on trial in a foreign court.”
The Federal Court of Canada upheld a ruling that classified both parties as terrorist organisations while denying asylum to Douglas Egharevba, a former member, over his decade-long affiliation with the PDP and APC. Justice Phuong Ngo delivered the judgment on June 17, 2025, dismissing Egharevba’s application for judicial review after the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) found him inadmissible under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
Court filings showed that the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness argued the APC and PDP were implicated in political violence, subversion of democracy, and electoral bloodshed in Nigeria. Egharevba had been a PDP member from 1999 to 2007 before joining the APC until 2017, when he moved to Canada and disclosed his political history. The IAD cited the PDP’s conduct during the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls, alleging “ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and killing of opposition supporters.”
PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, told Vanguard in Abuja: “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. If they wanted to say that some individuals in the government, particularly the APC government, have traces to terrorism, like we all are aware where the last Boko Haram leader was caught in one of the prominent members of this government’s apartment house, they will have a case. And I would say, yes, those individuals have ties to terrorists and terrorist organisations. But to say an entire political party is a terrorist organisation is wrong.” He urged Canadian authorities to focus on specific allegations against individuals rather than m
Soneye also spoke on the implications for democracy: “For Nigerians abroad, especially those who have ever held a party membership card, it signals heightened scrutiny, denied visas, and rejected asylum claims not only in Canada but potentially in other Western democracies that may follow suit. Even more alarming is what this means for democracy. Labeling established political parties as terrorist organisations undermines their legitimacy at home and abroad. It blurs the vital line between dissent and danger, between governance and extremism. Once such a label is applied, it can be wielded, domestically or internationally as a tool to silence opposition, suppress political participation, and erode civil liberties.”
