The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, has debunked his purported suspension from office, describing it as “fake news” which should be disregarded.
Alhaji Gabam who addressed journalists at the SDP National Secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital along with members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party on his purported suspension, Alhaji Gabam said, he remains the National Chairman of the SDP.
The SDP National Chairman explained that there was no official meeting of the party’s NWC where such a decision was taken and wondered where the statement emanated from.
He further explained that private legal firms had earlier approached the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and requested a meeting of the party’s NWC, which was signed by the National Secretary of the party, Mr Olu Agunloye, but the Commission rejected the request.
According to him, “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tagged the request by the party’s National Secretary to hold a National Working Committee, NWC, meeting as illegal, since it didn’t have my signature.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Rufus Ayegbeni, had earlier in a statement announced the suspension of Alhaji Gabam as National Chairman of the SDP.
While debunking the report as fake, he accused the new coalition being formed by some individuals of fueling the current crisis in the party through the collaboration of some members of the national officials of the party.
The SDP National Chairman also lamented that the crisis in the SDP was being masterminded by the coalition that wanted to destroy the party since they couldn’t have it.
According to him, “I 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, however, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call the nation’s security agencies to order so that politicians would not use them to truncate democracy.
According to him, “This is very, very dangerous for our democracy. Anytime we have leaders that don’t want to accommodate a dissenting voice, then the country is gone. Democracy will disappear.
“We 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.”
“They are not doing a disservice to me. They are not doing a disservice to this party. It’s a disservice to the country.”
He also pointed out that those who were accusing him of financial misappropriation should remember that they were the ones who raised memos and that all their names were in the party’s account statement.
According to him, “I’m 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.
“He was once the chairman of the party. He should have also accounted for his own tenure when he was chairman of the party. I’m ready to account for my tenure any minute, any time,” he added.
He also stated that this crisis was long overdue and that they had been expecting it.
According to him, “We expected this crisis for quite a while. First, we’ve been waiting for them to expose all their game plan, before we respond to it. Happily enough, they have officially exposed themselves today.
“And I’m sure Nigerians will get to know them – 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.”
Speaking on the letter of request written by the group to INEC, he said, “They used a legal firm to communicate to INEC, which is a complete violation of the process of political party communication with INEC.
“And 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.”