The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Shehu Gabam, has called on party members to disregard a statement declaring his suspension and two others by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Rufus Ayegbeni.
Gabam who arrived at the party’s national secretary on Tuesday just hours after his suspension was announced by members of the National Working Committee of the party, told newsman that he was still in charge.
โI remain the National Chairman of the SDP, as you can see, “he said.
While dismissing the report as false, he alleged that a newly formed coalition, backed by certain individuals, was exacerbating the party’s current crisis with the help of some national officials.
He clarified that the partyโs National Working Committee (NWC) had not held any official meeting where such a decision was made and questioned the origin of the statement.
Additionally, he noted that private legal firms had previously approached the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), requesting an NWC meeting. Although the request was signed by the partyโs National Secretary, Dr. Olu Agunloye, INEC had rejected it.
According to him, โThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tagged the request by the partyโs National Secretary to hold a National Working Committee (NWC) meeting illegal, since it didnโt have my signature.โ
Alhaji Gabam also lamented that the crisis in the SDP was being masterminded by the coalition that wanted to destroy the party since they couldnโt have it.
โI think we had this crisis before. It is now rearing its head. And some of us understand where it is coming from, because this coalition and some of the people in the coalition believe that, at all costs, they either get SDP or create confusion around SDP. So many forces from so many fronts see SDP as very, very deadly. Or very, very strong, that they cannot manoeuvre over”, he said.
He, however, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call the nationโs security agencies to order so that politicians would not use them to truncate democracy.
His words: “This is very, very dangerous for our democracy. Anytime we have leaders that donโt want to accommodate a dissenting voice, then the country is gone. Democracy will disappear.
โWe hope and I pray the President and Commander-in-Chief will not allow this kind of anarchy to continue. He will call people to order. Security agencies that somehow, remotely, are being used to support this kind of thing.
โThey are not doing a disservice to me. They are not doing a disservice to this party. Itโs a disservice to the country.โ
He reminded his accusers that they were the ones who raised memos and that all their names were in the partyโs account statement.
He said: โIโm sure by the time we submit the complete printout of our account from the banks to the security agencies, they will see everything. They will see everyone that money has gone into his account. Everyone. All the NWC members. It has not excluded anybody.
โHe was once the chairman of the party. He should have also accounted for his own tenure when he was chairman of the party. Iโm ready to account for my tenure any minute, any time,โ he added.
He also stated that this crisis was long overdue and that they had been expecting it.
According to him, โWe expected this crisis for quite a while. First, weโve been waiting for them to expose all their game plan, before we respond to it. Happily enough, they have officially exposed themselves today.
โAnd Iโm sure Nigerians will get to know them โ who are anti-democratic forces, who are conniving to disrupt political institutions, for whatever motivation. But I want to assure you that we are on.โ
Speaking on the letter of request written by the group to INEC, he said, โThey used a legal firm to communicate to INEC, which is a complete violation of the process of political party communication with INEC.
โAnd if you look at the INEC letters, it specifies that any decision has to be jointly signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary. My signature is an authority signature. By our constitution, the National Chairman is the national leader of the party and Chief Executive of the party.โ
Spear News reports that the National Publicity Secretary of SDP Rufus Ayegbeni, had on Tuesday in a statement announced the suspension of Alhaji Gabam.
According to a statement by Aiyenigba, โThe decision to suspend the National Chairman and other implicated NWC members is to allow for a thorough, investigation. Our integrity as a political party must be upheld at all times,โ the statement read.
โAn interim investigative panel has been constituted to audit all financial records and recommend further disciplinary or legal actions.
โIn the interim, the Deputy National Chairman (North), Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar has assumed leadership of the party as Acting National Chairman as per the provisions of the Constitution of the party.โ
Aiyenigba alleged that โthe misappropriated funds amount to hundreds of millions of naira, including donations and resources realised from the sales of nomination forms in the 2023 general elections and other funds from the party accounts.
โThe suspension of these officers has been communicated to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and all relevant agencies.โ
He said that โthe suspension of Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, Nze Nnadi Clarkson, and Uchechukwu Ogbonna Chukwuma takes immediate effect.โ
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