SDP National Headquarters Press Statement
DR. SADIQ UMAR ABUBAKAR GOMBE REMAINS THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF SDP
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The Deliberate Spread of Falsehood and Distortion of Facts of The Pronouncements of The Court of Appeal by Shehu Musa Gabam Does Him No Good
The national leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is mindful that a lie deliberately crafted and vigorously pushed into the public space, without being challenged and countered with superior facts, could pass for truth, and the misinformation becomes normalised and mislead the public.
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Conscious of the foregoing, and having thoroughly and carefully perused the two recent judgments delivered by the Appeal Court on the matter of the 8th August 2025 SDP Ekiti Governorship primary election, in doing its duty, the SDP national leadership hereby sets the record straight, by telling the public that the expelled National Chairman, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, who has become part of our documented past, is in a delusional state of mind, considering that the reality has dawned on him that his hope of saving his political career via a return to his former position in the party has evaporated.
It is, therefore, necessary for us to put the records straight. The basic points for the records are:
1. No Court has removed Prof Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe as the National Chairman of Social Democratic Party. He is the legitimate Chairman of the SDP as affirmed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party.
2. There are no court cases about leadership issues in SDP but court cases about recent primaries in Ekiti and Osun States relating to by aspirants with grievances with the processes.
3. In the suit CA/ABJ/CV/126/2026 filed by aggrieved Ekiti SDP Aspirant, Mr. Babatunde Tosin Fayemi, whose judgment was delivered by Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike at the Court of Appeal on 27 March 2026, and released yesterday, it was entirely about Ekiti Primaries and not about SDP leadership.
4. The former Chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, is not part of the suit and was not mentioned once in the suit or in the judgment.
5. Nowhere in the judgment was the expelled Chairman referred to as SDP Chairman. What the judgment simply stated is that the Trial Court ought not to have delved into leadership matter in a pre-election matter.
6. The suit in question was about the recently concluded Ekiti State Governorship primary election, to which Alhaji Shehu Gabam is a total stranger. Gabam’s later application to join the suit was dismissed by the court.
7. Apart from dismissing the cases of the plaintiffs, what the court held, was that the courts have no jurisdiction to determine the leadership of political parties and that leadership matter of a political party is an internal affair of the party, and no Court of law has jurisdiction over it.
8. As a matter of fact, Shehu Musa Gabam is no longer a member of the Social Democratic Party, having been duly expelled from the SDP, and the expulsion was formally ratified by the NEC of the party on March 9, 2026, having being earlier suspended on 24 June 2025, for gross financial misappropriation and malfeasance, investigated by a duly constituted Panel of Enquiry, and found guilty and reported to the Police. He was later expelled from the Party on 23 October 2025, and his expulsion was ratified by the Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at its meeting of 9 March 2026, which was monitored by INEC Team.
9. The SDP will not join issues with an expelled member, more so, considering that Shehu Musa Gabam is facing criminal proceedings for his misappropriation of our party’s funds and for gross abuse of office
10. Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe continues in office as National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Party assures all member, stakeholders across the country and the general public, that they need not bother with the development or be worried, as the party remains stable and strongly on course.
It is incontrovertible that Shehu Musa Gabam was validly removed from office as National Chairman, in line with the provisions of the SDP Constitution, and with due process. His suspension and eventual expulsion from the party, which received the ratification of the NEC on March 9, 2026, finally nailed the coffin on his case. It needs to be said that INEC sent a six-man Team to monitor the NEC, which sat all through the duration of the meeting and submitted its report to the Commission.
The SDP refuses to be distracted and is focused on the noble goal of producing credible candidates who can win the 2027 general elections and help to change the fortunes of the country by engendering national transformation and making life truly better for the people.
Towards achieving the foregoing goal, we are presently strengthening our structures, mobilizing members of the party across the country through our ongoing e-registration, and receiving new members to our fold, while collaborating with reputable national political groups, socio-cultural organisations, and social democratic elements to rescue the nation.
We are positioning the SDP as a national vehicle that has the essential capacity to drive the national retrieval mission, in response to the massive Nigerian people’s movement that is currently building around the party, in the North and South of the country.
As a national political party that Nigerians enthusiastically relate with as the credible alternative, the SDP remains committed to the promotion of the true interest of Nigeria, the task of promoting social justice, democratic consolidation, national redemption, and building a good Nigerian society for all.
*Signed:*
Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, National Publicity Secretary, SDP
9:4:2026
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, APRIL 10TH 2026)
