El-Rufai’s Entry Sparks Power Struggle In SDP, Tears Party Leadership Apart

El-Rufai’s entry into the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has ignited a fierce power struggle, fracturing the party’s leadership and plunging its once-stable structure into disarray.

NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that the Social Democratic Party (SDP), long hailed as Nigeria’s only crisis-free opposition party, has plunged into a leadership inferno following the controversial appointment of three new members into its National Working Committee (NWC). What was announced as a strategic move to consolidate the party for 2027 has instead triggered a bitter internal war, casting a dark shadow over its once-celebrated unity.

Last week, the party’s national publicity secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, issued a confident statement announcing the filling of three vacant NWC positions: Deputy National Chairman (South), Deputy National Chairman (North), and National Financial Secretary. Senator Ugochukwu Ubah, Alhaji Shehu Musa, and Bello Ado Hussain were named as the new appointees, a move seen by many political analysts as a pre-2027 electoral strategy.

However, the celebration was short-lived. Just days after the announcement, a shocking twist emerged: the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, who reportedly presided over the meeting publicly disowned the appointments. In a press conference held in Abuja and delivered through the party’s deputy national secretary, Muhammad Biu, Gabam declared the appointments false, unauthorized, and inconsistent with the party’s constitution.

“No such appointments have been made,” Biu stated firmly. “There was no NWC session convened to authorize such decisions. Any report to the contrary is misleading.”

The denial sent shockwaves through party ranks and the public alike, further intensified by a contradictory statement from the party’s national secretary, Olu Agunloye. In a no-holds-barred rebuttal, Agunloye laid bare the divisions tearing the party apart. He confirmed that 11 out of the 12-member NWC had indeed met and voted, with eight members supporting the appointments. He claimed Gabam and two others who opposed the move were now stirring unrest, allegedly in collaboration with former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who recently defected to the SDP from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to Agunloye, “Gabam and his allies lost the vote. Now, they’re teaming up with El-Rufai—who amounts to nothing even at his ward to hijack the party’s structure and subvert the majority’s decision.”

He accused the trio of prioritizing personal ambitions over party unity, likening their actions to “throwing tantrums” after losing a democratic process. In a formal move to reinforce the appointments, Agunloye also dispatched an official notification to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asserting the legitimacy of the appointments based on the SDP’s amended 2022 Constitution and the 2022 National Convention mandate.

The INEC letter, dated May 16, officially documented the appointment of Senator Ugochukwu Uba, Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar, and Mr. Hussani Ado Bello to the NWC, noting the decision was reached with a clear quorum and by constitutional procedure.

Yet, the party appears more divided than ever. With conflicting accounts from top officials and rising accusations involving El-Rufai, the SDP now risks joining the ranks of the crisis-plagued Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), both of which have been entangled in leadership crises since the 2023 elections.

What began as a routine internal restructuring has spiraled into a full-blown leadership crisis, threatening to unravel the party’s fragile fabric and shatter its image as a beacon of stability in Nigeria’s volatile political landscape. As 2027 looms, the SDP’s future now hangs in the balance.