‘DON’T HIJACK OUR PARTY’ – SDP CHAIRMEN WARN EL-RUFAI, NEW MEMBERS
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The Forum of Social Democratic Party Chairmen on Thursday warned former Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as well as new and prospective members, to abide by the party’s constitution and desist from seeking to change the party leadership or its existing structure.
Lagos SDP chairman, Femi Olaniyi, stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, with 25 members in attendance.
The state leaders also gave the National Chairman of the SDP, Shehu Gabam, the National Secretary, Dr Olu Agunloye and all the members of the party’s National Working Committee a vote of confidence, saying they have not failed in their respective duties.
It was reported that a gale of defection by politicians from the All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party and Peoples Redemption Party in the last two months.
Aside from El-Rufai, a renowned entertainer and former member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Obinna Simon, popularly known as MC Tagwaye as well as some ex-governorship candidates of the PRP such as Emiyare Etete (Rivers), Chris Agu (Enugu), Anthony Umeh (Anambra) and Abdulkareem Mustapha (Kwara) have also defected to the SDP.
But, according to Olaniyi, with or without an influx of new converts, they are not seeking to change the leadership of the party or alter its logo and manifesto.
He said, “We warmly welcome the influx of new members to our party, including prominent politicians from across the country, and we are committed to collaborating with them to ensure victory in upcoming elections. We acknowledge that some structural adjustments may be necessary to accommodate them.
“However, fundamental issues such as changes to the party’s name, logo, insignia, slogan, or any drastic alterations to the party’s constitution or manifesto must not be undertaken lightly. Any such changes should be thoroughly discussed among NEC members before any action is taken.
“Our democratically elected structures of the SDP at the state and national levels must not be truncated or dissolved to appease new joiners or at the whims of any individuals or interests. Elected officials should be allowed to serve out their terms.”
According to Olaniyi, new members must be admitted and registered through the SDP internal structures, led by the state chairmen, with a warning that they are not mandated to register or solely declare themselves as members of the party.
When asked if they are scared of El-Rufai and other heavyweights coming into the SDP and hijacking the party, the Lagos party chairman said that they are more concerned about certain impostors creating chaos in the party.
“We are not afraid anybody will hijack our party. We are welcoming the influence of new members into the party. But we don’t want those manipulators, especially from APC, PDP or Labour Party, to do a kangaroo registration for them.
“We acknowledge that some structural right adjustment may be necessary. So we are going to harmonize and see how we can go about it. If you are bringing 30,000 people to my 40,000 structure, I cannot expect to have the chairman and secretary.
“But we must go with it in a very rightful manner and allow the internal mechanism to decide the situation.”
His sentiment was shared by Plateau SDP chairman, Abubakar Dogara.
Dogara said it is pertinent to read the riot act and allow new and prospective members to know that the party already has a structure and constitution that must strictly be adhered to.
He also emphasised the need to ensure new members register directly at the ward level.
“This is why we are directing them to each of our party secretaries in all the 36 states and the FCT in line with our national chairman directives to go and register under the respective chairmen, whose phone numbers in each state will be provided.
“The party constitution is also very clear about the registration of SDP members. Whenever someone is interested in joining the SDP, the first thing to do is to go back to his electoral ward and meet the ward chairman.
“The ward chairman will now register him into the registration booklet of the party and issue him a membership card of the party. That is the first procedure provided in the constitution.”
Efforts to get a reaction from El-Rufai were unsuccessful.
As of the time of filing this story, his media aide, Muyuwa Adekeye, has also not been picking up calls or responding to the messages sent for clarification.
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