Reports suggesting that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is in crisis like other opposition parties are misleading, according to the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo.
He emphasized that the party continues to operate smoothly and peacefully.
Recently, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, announced that the vacancies for Deputy National Chairman (South), Deputy National Chairman (North), and National Financial Secretary had been filled.
The appointed officials were Ugochukwu Ubah, Alhaji Shehu Musa, and Bello Ado Hussain.
However, just two days following the announcement, the National Chairman, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, who chaired the meeting where these appointments were made, issued a statement denying that the appointments had taken place.
This contradictory information raised concerns that the SDP might be heading toward internal conflicts similar to those seen in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) since the 2023 elections.
Speaking in a televised interview, Adebayo attributed the situation to a minor disagreement among members of the National Working Committee (NWC), which is being managed internally.
He highlighted that what should have been a minor issue is attracting undue attention because politicians are already gearing up for the 2027 elections.
He explained, “I don’t see any crisis in particular. The party is running normally. Now that many people are starting early to talk about 2027, there’s a kind of unusual attention paid to something that’s a simple matter. We have not started using the word crisis.”
Describing the meeting in question, Adebayo said, “I think there was a meeting at the end of NWC. There were 12 of them. They are supposed to be 15. From what we gathered from both sides of the discussion, 11 people attended, including the chairman, secretary and all the rest of them.”
“Now, the majority of them said they took a decision to fill three positions in the NWC and I think there is a minority that said they were not happy with that decision.”
“But I am not getting involved in that because I’m not a member of the NWC and no member of the NWC has come out to speak. So, I think they’re trying to work it out among themselves.”
He also warned Nigerians to carefully consider their sources of information, noting that much of the talk about crisis comes from those outside the party leadership.
“Most of the comments you get are coming from people who are not in leadership. Some who have just joined the party like to hug the media, but I can tell you, even in this latest discussion, the national chairman has been quite mature.”
“He’s not issued any statement. The national secretary has also been quite mature. He’s not issued any statement and I think from what I gather at their meeting, they are working things out.”
He reminded that the National Working Committee is the party’s most active body and that it was granted authority at the convention to make decisions on behalf of the convention and the National Executive Committee (NEC) pending their meetings.
“So, I think they will work it out. It’s an intra-NWC discussion and they’re not telling outsiders what they disagree about. But, I think they made a decision and they’re working on it.”
