By Mohammed Bello Doka
In a sweeping, sensational headline that reverberated across newsrooms and social media alike, the All Progressives Congress (APC)—Nigeria’s ruling political party—was branded a “terrorist organization” by a Canadian Federal Court in a case that has ignited fierce debate, international backlash, and judicial introspection.
In a judgment delivered on June 17, 2025, Justice Phuong Ngo of Canada’s Federal Court upheld a decision by the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which denied asylum to Mr. Douglas Egharevba. The court cited Egharevba’s decade-long affiliations with both the PDP and APC, along with intelligence reports asserting that these parties were complicit in electoral violence, voter intimidation, and even politically motivated killings—particularly citing the PDP’s conduct in the 2003 state elections and 2004 local government polls. The ruling held that mere membership in such organizations, even without personal involvement in wrongdoing, sufficed to deny immigration status.
Fallout, Denials, and Chilling Warning Bells
Back home in Abuja, the reactions were swift and unanimous: both the APC and PDP branded the ruling as a gross misinterpretation and foreign interference. The APC called it "patently erroneous" and “mischievous,” stressing that the court never made an outright terrorism designation about the party itself. Meanwhile, the PDP condemned it as “misinformed” and lacking in evidence—and insisted that individual allegations, not blanket claims, should be pursued.
The Federal Government condemned the ruling as reckless and a grave intrusion into Nigeria’s democratic sovereignty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of far-reaching repercussions: stigmatizing every party member—even those entirely innocent—by associating them with terrorism.
But the uproar did not stop at diplomatic sniping. Human rights lawyer Femi Falana SAN issued a scathing critique: instead of hurling insults at the Canadian judge, both major parties should take the ruling as a wake-up call. "Prove you’re not terrorist organizations," he demanded, warning of the legal and reputational damage if the ruling’s implications spread to visa screenings and foreign asylum processes.
Linking the Allegations to Recent Violence: A Political Bloodbath
These sensational rulings and responses couldn’t come at a more volatile time. Over the past eight weeks, a string of brutal, politically charged attacks appeared to echo exactly the kind of “terror and democratic subversion” alleged by Canadian authorities.
On September 1 in Birnin Kebbi, former Attorney General Abubakar Malami’s convoy was ambushed in what he described as an APC-sponsored assault. Just two days later, on September 3 in Katsina North, a stakeholders’ and elders’ security meeting was violently disrupted when suspected pro-government thugs opened fire and sent participants fleeing. On August 30, a coalition meeting in Kaduna organized by former Governor Nasir El-Rufai was overrun by hoodlums—while police insisted it was his supporters who fueled the violence despite video evidence. El-Rufai’s camp blamed the state government for orchestrating the chaos.
During the nationwide bye-elections on August 16, violence reached unprecedented levels. In Anambra South, voters and officials were assaulted, journalists attacked, and a state commissioner beaten, with the deputy governor briefly held hostage. In Ogun, opposition candidate Bolarinwa Oluwole alleged he was chased from his polling unit by APC thugs, while the ADC accused police of blocking Rauf Aregbesola’s rally and restricting his supporters’ movements. In Zamfara, opposition parties accused the APC of using security operatives to intimidate voters, while in Adamawa’s Ganye Constituency, reports emerged of inducement, fertiliser diversion, and harassment tied to APC-controlled structures.
Ekiti was not spared either. On August 27, in Ikere-Ekiti, supporters of a fellow APC guber aspirant Engr. Kayode Ojo were attacked during a meeting by suspected APC loyalists, leaving several injured. In Kaduna between August 16 and 19, armed thugs allegedly disrupted voting across multiple constituencies, while in Chikun and Kajuru, PDP candidate Princess Esther Dawaki was reportedly abducted with 25 of her supporters. Observers and the press documented widespread intimidation, ballot snatching, and violence across Zamfara, Kaduna, Adamawa, and beyond.
These incidents, documented in vivid detail across national media, align uncomfortably with the violence, ballot manipulation, and intimidation tactics cited in the Canadian court’s reasoning.
A Cautionary Tale—and a Challenge
This sensational saga—titularized by the headline “Is APC a terrorist organization?”—is more than tabloid fodder. It spotlights the perilous convergence of political violence and legal jurisprudence, forcing Nigerians, and their leaders, to face uncomfortable truths:
When the machinery of political influence overlaps with intimidation, coercion, and lethal force, it risks crossing into the terrain of terror.
When foreign courts wield immigration laws to condemn political institutions, democracies must ask: are we complicit—or culpable?
If private membership in a party can result in visa denials, does that chill civic engagement, especially among young, politically active citizens?
Final Word
Nigeria’s democracy stands at an inflection point. The Canadian ruling, whether flawed or fact-based, has ripped open the fabric of political discourse—forcing a reckoning over violence, impunity, and democratic legitimacy. Until the ruling is clarified, reversed, or reconciled by credible domestic action, the world will continue to ask: Is APC a terrorist organization? The answer—and Nigeria’s reputation—depend on how that question is answered, not with denials, but with accountability.