The National Chairperson of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Shehu Gabam, has described his purported suspension as “fake news” and a product of political mischief.
Speaking to journalists at the party national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Gabam said he remained the party chairman.
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The National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Rufus Ayegbeni had earlier in a statement announced the suspension of the chairman Gabam and two other NEC members over allegations of financial mismanagement.
Mr Gabam, who was flanked by some members of the party National Working Committee (NWC), urged members of the public to disregard the purported suspension.
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“I remain the national chairman of the SDP as you can see,” he said.
He said that there was no official meeting of the NWC where the decision regarding his suspension was taken, wondering where the statement on the claimed suspension emanated from.
He recalled that a private legal firms had earlier approached the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) notifying it of a meeting of the NWC, signed by the National Secretary, Olu Agunloye.
He said that the letter was rejected by the commission, since it was not co-signed by him as the party national Chairperson.
“They used a legal firm, to communicate to the INEC. Which is a complete violation of the process of political party in terms of communication with INEC.
“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.
“INEC tagged the request by the party’s national secretary to hold the NWC meeting as illegal, since the letter was not signed by me,” he said.
On the alleged financial misappropriation against him, Mr Gabam described it as false, saying he has nothing to hid.
He said that his accusers should remember they were the one raising memos and that all their names were in the party’s account statement.
“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.
Mr Gabam accused the new coalition being formed by some individuals in collaboration with some party national officials of being behind the recent crisis in the SDP, for their inability to hijack the party.
“I think we had this crisis before. It is now rearing its head.
“Some of us understand where it is coming from, because this coalition and some of the people in the coalition who 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 deadly or very strong that they cannot maneuver over.
“We have been waiting for them to expose all their game plan, before we respond to it. Happily enough, they have officially exposed themselves today.
READ ALSO: SDP suspends national chairperson, two others for alleged fraud
“I am 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,” he said.
Mr Gabam, however, urged President Bola Tinubu to call the nation’s security agencies to order so that politicians will not use them remotely to truncate democracy.
“They are not doing disservice to me. They are not doing disservice to this party. It’s a disservice to the country,” he said.
Mr Aiyenigba in his statement had said that the decision to suspend Gabam and other implicated NWC members was to allow for a thorough, investigation.
He added that in the interim, the Deputy National Chairman, Sadiq Abubakar has been directed to assume leadership of the party pending the outcome of the investigations.
(NAN)
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