Nigeria’s federal government has condemned a Canadian court ruling that labelled two of its major political parties as terrorist organisations, describing the judgment as “baseless, reckless, and an unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs.
The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement on Friday after a June ruling by Justice Phuong Ngo of Canada’s Federal Court, which upheld an immigration tribunal’s decision to deny asylum to Douglas Egharevba, a former member of both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court sustained earlier findings that both parties were terrorist organisations, citing widespread political violence linked to their members over several decades. Justice Ngo argued 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 … to dissociate the leadership of the party from their actions.”
In response, Nigerian officials accused the court of misrepresenting the country’s political system and warned that the ruling risked painting millions of party members as terrorists. “The court made a sweeping accusation against the entire membership of a political party that has produced three democratically elected presidents, instead of focusing on individuals found wanting,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Ebienfa.
The ministry insisted Nigeria’s political institutions operated within a robust legal and constitutional framework and urged Canada to retract the decision. It also warned against endorsing what it described as “politically motivated narratives” that misrepresented Nigeria’s democracy.
The APC dismissed reports that it had been branded a terrorist group, saying the judgment contained no such pronouncement. “To be clear, the only reference to APC in the entire 16-page decision was in the introductory background,” said Felix Morka, the party’s national publicity secretary. He added that the claim of APC membership dating back to 2007 was “evidently false”, since the party was not registered until 2013.
But some smaller parties and opposition coalitions argued that the ruling reflected international alarm over Nigeria’s electoral violence. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) suggested that incidents of rigging, intimidation and political thuggery had shaped the Canadian court’s perspective.
Bolaji Abdullahi of the ADC said the judgment showed how seriously other nations regarded election violence. “Perhaps, under their law, this alone qualifies as acts of terrorism. It is our hope that these kinds of rulings will serve as deterrence going forward,” he said.
Peter Ameh of the CUPP was blunter, describing Nigeria’s elections as “like war”. He pointed to violent episodes during the 2023 general elections as evidence of why foreign institutions might view the country’s dominant parties as enablers of terror. “People were beaten. A woman’s eye almost gushed out. In Kogi, violence was rampant. The level of violence in our electoral cycle is enough to be classified as acts of terror,” he said.
Despite the pushback, the government insisted it remained committed to fighting terrorism and urged Nigerians not to misrepresent the country in asylum claims abroad. Diplomatic channels, it said, remained open for dialogue with Canada to “rectify this error.”
