By Jude Opara
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday affirmed the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) under its acting national head, Sadiq Gombe, following a verification exercise at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Gombe disclosed this while addressing journalists shortly after the exercise, noting that INEC officials visited the secretariat to confirm the composition and physical presence of the party’s leadership structures.
According to him, the verification team engaged members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Working Committee (NWC), alongside state chairmen, as part of statutory requirements for political party recognition.
He explained that a political party must demonstrate functional presence in at least two-thirds of states of the federation, a condition he said the SDP satisfied during the exercise.
“It was an eleven-member INEC team that conducted the verification at the party headquarters. They interacted with NEC members and assessed the structure on ground,” he said.
Gombe further maintained that judicial precedents, including pronouncements by the Supreme Court, have consistently held that internal party disputes remain the exclusive affairs of political parties.
The development comes after the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed an appeal by INEC, a decision that paved the way for Gombe to assume leadership of the opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
