By Citizenship Newspaper
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has refuted the news making the rounds that a Canadian Court has declared the party a terrorist organization.
National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of the party, Barr. Felix Morka in a statement on Friday said it was misleading to claim that the said Court was referring to the party in its ruling.
Morka explained that the declaration was allegedly made in the case of one Douglas Egharevba and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, in which the plaintiff sought judicial review of a ruling by the Court that he was inadmissible in Canada.
The statement added that the Court only mentioned APC in reference because the applicant who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that at one point he was also a member of the APC.
“We wish to state categorically that the Canadian court did not declare APC as a terrorist organisation, contrary to highly erroneous media reports in circulation.
“As reported, the declaration was allegedly made in the case of Douglas Egharevba and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, in which the Applicant (Douglas Egharevba) sought judicial review of a decision by the Canadian Immigration Appeal Division [IAD] which determined that the Applicant was inadmissible in Canada under its Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
“In a decision in the matter dated June 17, 2025, Judge Phuong T.V. Ngo dismissed the application for judicial review on the ground that the Applicant was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that the PDP was an organization engaged in acts of subversion pursuant to paragraph 34(1)(b.1) of the IRPA making him inadmissible in Canada.
“In his analysis, the Judge stated, ‘As such, applying the reasonableness standard of review, I cannot find the IAD’s conclusion that the Elections in question constituted a democratic process or institution and that the PDP, its members and supporters engaged in subversive acts committed against the electoral process for the improper purpose of maintaining political power to be unreasonable.’
“To be clear, the only reference to APC in the entire 16-paged decision was in the introductory “Background”, Paragraph 4, where the court referenced a ‘Background Declaration Form in which the Applicant stated that he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] of Nigeria from December 1999 until December 2007, and a member of All Progressives Congress [APC] party of Nigeria from December 2007 until May 2017.”
Morka further argued that the APC was not even in existence in 2007, adding that any claims by the Applicant that he was a member of the party in 2007 is evidently false and misleading.
“For the record, APC was not in existence as of 2007. The Party was registered in 2013. The Applicant’s claim of membership of APC as of 2007 is evidently false as he could not have been a member of APC that didn’t exist at the time.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we make bold to state that the court never made any determination on the question of terrorism in its decision. In the Judge’s own words:
“’Having found that the IAD’s analysis on subversion was reasonable, this is sufficient to dismiss the application for review. *I will therefore refrain from anaylyzing the IAD’s findings on terrorism.”’
The NPS added that reports that APC was declared as a terrorist organization by the Canadian court in the matter is patently erroneous and mischievous, because there was not even a time the party was never involved in the said case.
“The court did not make such a declaration, and could not have done so as that would be an unjustifiable overreach, and a major breach of fair hearing, among other due process rights, given that APC was not a party to the proceedings. Such a decision would also have been of absolute irrelevance as being made without jurisdiction, and of no extraterritorial applicability or significance”, he said.
