Embattled National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Shehu Gabam, has dismissed reports of his suspension by a faction of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

Gabam, who said he remains in charge of the party, accused some proponents of the new collation of orchestrating an illegal and desperate plot to destabilise the SDP.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, Gabam said those behind his purported suspension lacked the authority and failed to follow due process.

He spoke after receiving some members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) who paid him a solidarity visit.

He was responding to a purported call by a faction of the NWC over allegations of gross financial misconduct, embezzlement, and diversion of party funds.

The faction, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, had said its decision was reached in line with Articles 19.1, 19.3(i), and 19.5 of its 2022 constitution (as amended).

However, Gabam claimed that the NWC meeting, which supposedly resulted in his suspension, was never held, adding that no one person has the constitutional power to remove a sitting chairman without due consultation and joint decisions by the party leadership.

Gabam also described the letter sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by a faction of the party as fraudulent.

The SDP chairman alleged that he had survived previous attempts on his life and accused unnamed political actors of sponsoring internal sabotage aimed at weakening the SDP ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“I think we had this crisis before. It is now rearing its head. And some of us understand where it is coming from.

“Because this coalition and some of the people in the coalition believe that at all costs, they either get SDP or create confusion around SDP. So many forces from so many fronts see SDP as very deadly or very strong that they cannot manoeuvre over,” he said.

He called on President Bola Tinubu to call the security agencies to order so that politicians would not use them to truncate democracy

On allegations of financial impropriety, Gabam said he welcomed any investigation but insisted that party accounts had been duly audited and published in compliance with the law.

“INEC has audited our accounts, external auditors have audited them, and we even published in two national dailies. Everything we spent went through a process and was documented,” he said