Ahead the 2027 general elections, the political atmosphere is charged with alignments and realignments of political forces scheming to outdo one another.

But one of the opposition political parties groping in the dark is the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as it is embroiled in a legal impasse.

The now-recognized National Chairman, Shehu Gabam, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is having a running battle with a factional Chairman, Sadiq Umar Gombe, over the leadership position of the party.

Gabam was ousted last year and Gombe was brought in. However, recently, the Court of Appeal upturned the judgement, and reinstated him, as SDP authentic chairman.

The battle is far from over as a staunch chieftain and the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, Adewole Adebayo, is believed to be the one stoking the flames bedeviling the party.

The protracted battle is gradually dampening the spirit of supporters and potential aspirants.

One of such persons who would have embolden the chances of SDP and intervene in the crisis was the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who briefly joined the party and decamped to the troubled African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In the 2023 elections, the party made inroads, by snatching two senatorial seats in Nasarawa State and had about four lawmakers in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly

The number has however now shrunk. One of the SDP senators, Godiya Akwashaki, died in December 31, 2026. Up till now, a bye-election has not been conducted, to fill in the vacant position.

The only remaining lawmaker representing Nasarawa West Senatorial District, Ahmed Wadada, has decamped to the APC.

Expectedly, Gabam has dispelled the crisis as a normal issue in political parties and assured supporters that the issues would be addressed.

But his assurance appears unconvincing. This is because a former Chairman of SDP in Plateau State, Emmanuel John Kadiya, expressed fear over the prolonged fracas, saying that before now all disagreements were resolved internally without recourse to the courts, but wondered why the current leadership dispute had taken a dangerous twist.

Kadiya said: “The challenges of the SDP are internal and at no point did internal crisis spread to something that will be challenged in the Nigerian courts because it is resolved from within.

“Now, truth be told, trying to grow an oak tree is much more difficult and takes much more time than trying to grow a pawpaw tree. The SDP stands to be a good party so that it could draw collaboration within other parties to make a formidable opposition.

“Maybe not this time, our pursuits for this next coming election is to ensure that we put in strong memberships in the national assembly, state houses of assembly, and to capture three or four state governments in which we can continue to build our party slowly but assuredly much more firmly.”

Regardless, he said the SDP would try to lure those he termed “long-term politicians” to its fold.

“If you noticed earlier before, we were careful not to marry into those that want to use the party as a vehicle. We are looking for the next generation of Nigerians to build the most stable party in Africa. I do not know if that is where we are.

“We have two representatives still standing. One, it was death that took him, that is Godiya Akwashaki, and he is being replaced by the strongest of all, “General” Maku. I call him General, because we are expecting him to come and build a firm base for the party.

“We have Abubakar Sarki Dahiru, who is the House of Representatives for the third term representing Lafia and Obi Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State.

“We have Honourable Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi, purported next governor of Nasarawa State, representing Kefi Karu-Kokona.

“The only person that has left the party is Senator Wadada, and even at that, we do not castigate him. He is a firm and strong politician.

“You can see as he is already been endorsed in the APC for the governorship poll. The SDP only produces quality, he is a quality representative. In our House of Assemblies, we have drawn in new intakes from the opposition party, since the stability of the SDP.

“The minority leader of the House of Assembly in Nasarawa State has joined the SDP, and a couple of their colleagues have joined the SDP. I think Nasarawa is a no-go area. The SDP will be firm in Nasarawa State”

Despite the battle, he predicted that the SDP would capture at least four states in 2027.

“As the representative of the last election, I will give you some sort of a predicted assurance that the SDP will do better in 2027 than it did in 2023. The hurricane is coming. The horsemen are coming.

“Put that in your newsletter. Tell them that the horsemen are coming. We have the presidential aspirant who has been a dedicated firm leader, a seasoned lawyer, he has been across board, young and articulate.

“He has been the presidential aspirant for the past eight years. Ongoing, unopposed. We still hold him as our presidential aspirant.

“Beyond being a presidential aspirant is that he continues to make sure the party remains stable. And we are very proud of him. So he is our presidential aspirant.”

Even when Adebayo is not with Gabam, Kadiya expressed confidence that the party’s convention slated this Saturday would be used to mend fences.

“But talks are ongoing. You know we have a convention coming on Saturday. Backdoor sit-downs and affiliations are being done to ensure that they find a common ground where all could be carried along into the next election,” he said.

When contacted, SDP Acting National Secretary, Chukwuma Uchechukwu, did not corroborate the reconciliatory hope shared by Kadiya, with Adebayo, who is backing Gombe.

Uchechukwu claimed that Gombe deceived the court. He insisted that those creating problems in the party would not succeed in destroying it.

The former SDP Youth Leader said: “With the court judgement we have, it is inconsequential. Adebayo is just a party member. He is not a member of National Executive Committee (NEC).

“He is not a member of NWC. He is just a former presidential candidate. So he does not speak for the party.

“If you go to that judgement, you will understand where the judgement was talking about. So, for him to be going from one media house to another, does not mean anything because he is not speaking on behalf of the party when he is not an official of the party. He is just a member of the party.

“So if the only thing that the national chairman is sending is what we are expending, everybody should come back together and have a formidable platform and go ahead in the forthcoming election.

“But if, as you rightly said, it is all about interest. If your interest is to destroy the party, who are we to hold you down? If your interest is not for the interest of the party, should we continue to massage our ego, knowing fully well that everything we have done is to destroy the party.

“The party will not have the opportunity to do that. So that is why when they had this judgement in the Appeal Court, Gabam said it was time for us to consolidate the party.

“Consolidation is what we are looking at now. So anybody that has the interest of the party, including Adewole himself, that knows that the interest of the party is paramount, should be able to sheathe his sword. Except he does not want the interest of the party.

“So ask him why he is not sheathing his sword. In the last election, he did not flag off. He must not be president if you are in a political party.

“So what are you insinuating in the party? What do you want the party to look like? A briefcase party? No. We are coming from somewhere, and with the leadership of Shehu Musa Gabam, we are standing tall to make sure that we win the election come 2027.

“Even if we do not win the presidential election, we should be able to try to win another election.”

He dismissed fear over plans by Gombe to challenge the judgement of the Court of Appeal.

“He can go to Supreme Court. Everybody has the right to go to appeal. They have the right to appeal whatever judgement they have. But that is why I am saying that you also need to have the opportunity to read through that judgement.

“If somebody is not shameful you should be able to bury his face in shame. But he has the constitutional right to appeal whatever judgement the appellate court gave us. Nobody is stopping him from doing that.”

On the chances of SDP in 2027, he said: “Political parties are about individuals. It is about the player. Most times it is not about the name.

“When you have key players that understand this game in a political party, even a day, even a day to the election, they will still win the election. That is what political parties are all about. It is about the people that are really into the party.

“People that are really involved in the growth of the party. I don’t want us to focus so much about time. It is about the people. Let us have credible people that will come around the election and that is the thing.

“And they understand that this is the time for us to do that. There is no party that is even less, that is not crisis-prone. Almost all the political parties are in crisis now.

“Is it the ADC? Is it even the APC himself? Or even the PDP? Everybody is in a very tight corner. That is the way it is.” (The Sun)