SDP gives INEC 24 hours to reinstate Musa as Nasarawa governorship candidate

Firdaus Obiremi

The Social Democratic Party has given the Independent National Electoral Commission 24 hours to reinstate Danlami Mohammed Musa as the duly nominated candidate for the 2027 Nasarawa State governorship election, calling for the immediate removal of Mohammed Abubakar Adamu’s name from the commission’s final list of candidates.

The party, in a petition dated October 21, 2026, accused INEC of illegally replacing Musa’s name with that of Adamu, warning that failure to reverse the decision within 24 hours of receiving the complaint would force it to initiate legal action.

The petition was addressed to the Chairman of INEC at the commission’s headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, and was received on the same day.

The SDP argued that the commission’s action violated the provisions of the Electoral Law 2026 and could undermine the authority of the Supreme Court, insisting that Musa remained its validly nominated candidate.

The petition was signed by the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, and its Acting National Secretary, Uchechukwu Chukwuma.

Titled “Complaint against the illegal substitution of the name of Danlami Mohammed Musa as the validly and duly nominated governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Nasarawa State, with the name of Mohammed Abubakar Adamu in the final list of candidates for the 2027 general elections”, the document challenged INEC’s decision to recognize Adamu as the party’s candidate.

Musa, who is also the SDP chairman in Nasarawa State and state chairman of the Inter-Party Consultative Council, has reportedly emerged as the party’s governorship candidate through a consent agreement in the primary elections held on May 26, 2026.

The party maintained that his name was subsequently communicated to INEC in a letter dated 5 June 2026 and that he had neither withdrawn his candidature nor ceased to be its duly nominated candidate.

The SDP described the substitution as “unlawful and illegal”, calling on INEC to immediately correct the final list and restore Musa’s name.

A major point of the SDP complaint is what is described as inconsistent treatment of correspondence submitted to INEC by its national president.

According to the party, Gabam wrote to the commission on May 29, 2026, seeking to update the party’s membership register to accommodate Adamu following his alleged defection from the All Progressives Congress.

However, the SDP alleged that INEC subsequently ignored a separate letter dated June 5, 2026, in which Gabam forwarded the names of candidates nominated by the party, including Musa, for the Nasarawa governorship election.

The party questioned why the commission would recognize Gabam’s authority to present Adamu as a member of the SDP, but reject his subsequent communication identifying Musa as the party’s candidate.

“The Commission cannot recognize Alh. Shehu Musa Gabam as the National Chairman of the SDP and give effect to his letter introducing Mohammed Abubakar Adamu as a member of the SDP in one breath and, in the other, deny his position as the National Chairman of the same SDP by belittling his letter of 5 June 2026, forwarding to the Commission the names of the candidates nominated by the SDP, including Danlami Mohammed Musa,” the petition reads.

The party argued that the manner in which INEC handled the two letters raised questions about the consistency of its decisions and the legal basis for publishing Adamu’s name.

The opposition party has also pegged its challenge to May 10, 2026, the deadline for political parties to submit their digital records to INEC.

It argued that Musa was already a registered member of the SDP before the deadline and that his name appeared in the membership register submitted to the commission.

In contrast, the party said Adamu had not been a member of the SDP since May 10 and was not included in the register submitted on that date.

According to the petition, Adamu’s name was submitted to INEC on May 29, 19 days after the deadline.

The SDP further alleged that Adamu had participated in the APC governorship primary elections conducted in Nasarawa State on May 21, 2026, before resigning from the party on May 24 and subsequently joining the SDP.

The party questioned whether his membership status and the timing of his inclusion in its records met the legal requirements for nomination as a candidate for governor.

It argued that the Electoral Law 2026 did not allow the use of an updated register of members to circumvent the deadline for submitting party membership data to INEC.

The allegations and interpretation of the law were part of the reasons given by the SDP to challenge the commission’s decision.

The SDP also disputed the circumstances under which Adamu would emerge as its candidate in the purported new governorship primary elections held on 5 September 2026.

According to the party, the operation was conducted outside the 14-day period allowed by law after a candidate’s withdrawal.

The petition stated that the alleged recall occurred on June 9, 2026, while the new primary took place nearly three months later.

The party further stated that the individual who allegedly withdrew in favor of Adamu was not the person whose name its national president had submitted to INEC as a duly nominated candidate for the elections.

He argued that Musa’s nomination in the May 26 primaries remained valid and that there was no legal basis to replace him with Adamu.

The SDP listed eight reasons for its objection, including the membership registration deadline, the circumstances surrounding Adamu’s entry into the party, the nomination of Musa, the alleged irregularity in the withdrawal and the timing of the alleged new primaries.

The party also questioned INEC’s implementation of the Supreme Court ruling in the case of INEC v Zenith Labor Party (ZLP), arguing that implementation of the ruling should not result in the removal of Musa from the list of eligible candidates for the governorship and substitution of Adamu’s name.

He insisted that the ruling should not be applied in a way that ignores the party’s nomination process and membership registers which he said had been duly submitted to the commission.

The SDP warned that retaining Adamu’s name despite his objections would be tantamount to making a mockery of the law and the authority of the Supreme Court.

In a separate petition to the INEC chairman, Musa also called for the restoration of his name as the SDP governorship candidate in Nasarawa State.

He described the publication of Adamu’s name as a serious violation of his rights and contested the legal basis of the decision.

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