- He said the judgment was biased and not within the scope of the legal instruments used in determining asylum eligibility.
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has dismissed claims by Canadian authorities that it deploys large-scale violence and wanton intimidation to achieve its political objectives and electoral triumph.
Recall that Justice Phuong Ngo of the Federal Court of Canada labelled the party and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as terrorist organisations.
Within Nigeria, on Thursday, reported that the Immigration Appeal Division, IAD, classified the APC and the PDP as terrorist organisations owing to their involvement in activities that undermine Nigeria’s democracy and subvert people’s will.
Subsequently, a Canadian court affirmed the IAD ruling and classification of the two parties while denying asylum to a former member, Douglas Egharevba, over his decade-long affiliation with both parties.
In a judgment delivered on June 17, 2025, Justice Ngo had dismissed Egharevba’s application for judicial review after the Immigration Appeal Division, IAD, found him inadmissible under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, IRPA.
Reacting to the judicial pronouncement, the national publicity secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, said there was no legal basis for classifying the APC as a terrorist organisation as the party was not involved in the suit.
He described the judge who presided over the case as an ignoramus, adding that APC is a credible democratic political organisation.
“The presiding judge must be an ignoramus! We are not party to the suit, and the court has no jurisdiction to determine the status of a Nigerian-recognised political party, not to talk of declaring it as a terrorist organisation,” said APC scribe.”
He said the judgment was biased and not within the scope of the legal instruments used in determining asylum eligibility. He noted that the APC does not require the validation or legitimisation of a foreign entity to prove it is a political party.
“It is unfortunate that some desperate and unpatriotic Nigerians will allow the name of the country to be brought to unpalatable commentary by racist judges on account of a self-contrived application for asylum.
“The so-called judgment was obviously delivered from a jaundiced perspective and within the narrow confines of determining eligibility for asylum by an applicant.
“The APC is a credible democratic political organisation and does not seek legitimacy from a foreign bench and under a law that has no extraterritorial application,” he said