A Canadian Federal Court has upheld a landmark immigration tribunal ruling that declared Nigeria’s major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) terrorist organisations.
While refusing asylum to a former member, Douglas Egharevba, over his decade-long affiliation with both parties, Justice Phuong Ngo dismissed Mr Egharevba’s application for judicial review after Canada’s Immigration Appeal Division found him inadmissible under security provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in June 2024.
The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness had argued that the PDP and the APC were deeply implicated in acts of political violence, subversion of democracy, and electoral bloodshed, inflicting harm and terror on Nigerians.
Mr Egharevba, who joined the PDP at its founding in 1999, left in 2007 when he defected to the APC, staying there until 2017. He claimed that his personal record was untainted by the violence and manipulation that plagued Nigerian politics, insisting he had never personally engaged in terrorism or subversion.
But Justice Ngo was unconvinced, writing that “the conduct of individuals who are members of the PDP, including high-ranking officials, and those who committed political violence and intimidation on their behalf, is too widespread and persistent over too great a period of time to dissociate the leadership of the party from their actions.”
According to court filings, Mr Egharevba entered Canada in September 2017 and disclosed his political history in a Background Declaration Form. Under questioning by the Canada Border Services Agency in 2018, he confirmed his eight-year PDP membership before switching to the APC. Canadian immigration authorities flagged his affiliations, citing intelligence and international reports that linked both parties to electoral misconduct and politically motivated killings.
The dismissal leaves Mr Egharevba’s asylum claim effectively dead with deportation proceedings excepted to follow next.
