SDP Suspends Nat’l Chairman, Two Others Over Alleged Embezzlement – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

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…I Remain Nat’l Chairman, Says Gabam

ABUJA – The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has suspended the national chairman of the party, Shehu Gabam, and two other NWC members over allegations of “gross financial misconduct.”

The National Publicity Secretary of SDP, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, said that Gabam was axed along­side Nze Nnadi Clarkson, National Auditor, and Uchechukwu Chukwuma, National Youth Leader, for alleged gross financial mis­conduct, embezzlement, misappropriation, and di­version of party funds.

He explained that the NWC’s action was in exer­cise of its exclusive powers as guaranteed in Article 19.1; 19.3(i) and 19.5 of the party’s constitution (2022 as amended).

According to him, “Overwhelming evidence was presented linking the suspended officials to a se­ries of unauthorised finan­cial transactions, personal enrichment schemes, and movement of funds from the party’s accounts with­out necessary approvals of the NWC.

“The action of the NWC to suspend the national chairman and two mem­bers of the NWC involved in the gross financial mis­conduct is to demonstrate to the general public that the party, generally es­teemed by Nigerians as a disciplined party and a credible alternative polit­ical platform for national redemption has zero tol­erance for corruption and abuse of office.

“The 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,” the statement reads.

It continued, stating that an “interim investigative panel has been constitut­ed to audit all financial records and recommend further disciplinary or le­gal actions.

“In the interim, the Dep­uty National Chairman, Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar, has been directed to assume leadership of the party pending the outcome of the investigations.”

Aiyenigba added that “the 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.

“The suspension has been communicated to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), and all relevant anti-graft agencies and security agencies have been formally notified.

“The suspension of Al­haji Shehu Musa Gabam, Nze Nnadi Clarkson, and Uchechukwu Chukwuma takes immediate effect.”

The statement urged the public to be guided by the situation in the opposition party.

Meanwhile, the SDP national chairman has de­bunked his purported sus­pension from office, describ­ing it as “fake news” which should be disregarded.

Speaking with newsmen at the national secretar­iat of the party in Abuja along with the members of the National Working Committee [NWC] of the party, over his purported suspension, Alhaji Gabam said, “I remain the nation­al chairman of the SDP as you can see.”

While debunking the report as fake, he accused the new Coalition being formed by some individu­als for the current crisis in the party with the collab­oration of some members of the national officials of the party.

He 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 a private legal firm had earlier approached the Independent Nation­al Electoral Commission (INEC) and requested for a meeting of the party’s NWC which was signed by the National Secretary of the Party, Dr. Olu Agunloye, which the commission al­legedly rejected.

Gaban also lamented that 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. Some of us under­stand where it is coming from because of 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, very deadly. Or very, very strong that they cannot manoeuvre over.”

He appealed to Presi­dent Bola Tinubu to call 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 me a disservice. They are not doing 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’re 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.”