Ekiti guber: SDP insists on contesting despite INEC’s refusal to accept polling agents

…Blames APC for alleged withdrawal of party

By Jude Opara

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has rejected the alleged withdrawal of the party from the Ekiti state governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with barely 24 hours to the exercise taking place on June 20.

National Publicity of the party, Araba Rufus in a statement on Friday said the party will still contest the election, despite the alleged refusal of INEC to open its portal for the uploading of the names of their polling agents as required by law. He added that the party’s candidate, Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade is very much in the race,

The statement further urged the Ekiti electorate and members of the party to disregard the development which it stated was contrived by some “political jobbers” to derail the efforts of the National Chairman, Prof. Sadiq Gombe and the National Working Committee (NWC), to reposition the party and make it attractive to Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“The attention of the National Headquarters of our great Party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has been drawn to the fabricated story of alleged withdrawal of the party from the Ekiti State governorship election scheduled to hold on Saturday, June 20, 2026.

“The Ekiti electorate and members of the general public are hereby assured by the National Chairman, Prof. Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe and National Working Committee (NWC), that the SDP is listed on the ballot and its candidate, Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade, the validly nominated Candidate who is recognised by the INEC, particularly with his being one of the governorship candidates who signed the INEC Peace-Pact, remains strongly in contention for the election”.

The party equally blamed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the latest development, all in an attempt to pave way for their candidate to win the election.

“The false statement credited to a group of political jobbers should be discountenanced by the people of Ekiti State. The imperative of this disclaimer is not only to correct the deliberate disinformation by those fellows, but to also tell the public that the authors of the falsehood are undeniable political merchants and agents of the ruling party, led by an expelled former national chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, who masterminded the wrongful and illegal placement of, and pushing the name of fellow who is unknown to the party in the public domain as our candidate.

“It is instructive to note and inform the public that INEC formally provided access code to our National Secretariat, for the uploading of the names of Polling Unit Agents of the SDP, but inexplicably, the officials of the Commission at the national headquarters bluntly refused to open the portal to enable us do the uploading of the party agents for the governorship election.

“The SDP hereby declares that an election such as this particular one, in which the actions and inactions of the electoral umpire show unhidden bias, the outcome becomes a nullity, considering that the deliberate locking out of agents of a major opposition party like the SDP by the Commission, erodes the credibility of the election. The Party will certainly not accept the disenfranchisement that is obviously orchestrated by APC, the rulling party”.

“The SDP, as a national political party, remains the credible alternative platform that will deliver good governance, guarantee equitable socio-economic development, and shared-prosperity to all the people of Ekiti State, irrespective of creed and social status”.

The party assured that it will continue to maintain its unparalleled records of contributions to the deepening of our political jurisprudence and democratic consolidation, as well as lead in the vanguard of promoting clean, fair and credible elections .