Firdaus Obiremi
The Social Democratic Party has given the Independent National Electoral Commission 24 hours to restore Danlami Mohammed Musa as its duly nominated candidate for the 2027 Nasarawa State governorship election, demanding 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 unlawfully replacing Musa’s name with Adamu’s, warning that failure to reverse the decision within 24 hours of receiving the complaint would compel it to institute legal action.
The petition was addressed to the INEC chairman at the commission’s headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, and was acknowledged as received on the same day.
The SDP argued that the commission’s action contravened provisions of the Electoral Act, 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 Unlawful Replacement of the Name of Danlami Mohammed Musa as 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 recognise Adamu as the party’s candidate.
Musa, who is also the SDP chairman in Nasarawa State and the state chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, reportedly emerged as the party’s governorship candidate through a consensus arrangement at its primary election held on May 26, 2026.
The party maintained that his name was subsequently forwarded to INEC in a letter dated June 5, 2026, and that he had neither withdrawn his candidacy nor ceased to be its duly nominated candidate.
The SDP described the substitution as “illegal and unlawful,” demanding that INEC immediately correct the final list and restore Musa’s name.
A major plank of the SDP’s complaint is what it described as inconsistent treatment of correspondence submitted to INEC by its national chairman.
According to the party, Gabam wrote to the commission on May 29, 2026, seeking to update the party’s membership register to accommodate Adamu after his alleged defection from the All Progressives Congress.
However, the SDP said INEC subsequently disregarded a separate letter dated June 5, 2026, in which Gabam forwarded the names of the party’s nominated candidates, including Musa, for the Nasarawa governorship election.
The party questioned why the commission would recognise Gabam’s authority to introduce Adamu as an SDP member but allegedly reject his subsequent communication identifying Musa as the party’s candidate.
“The Commission cannot recognise 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 another breath, deny his position as the National Chairman of the same SDP by discountenancing his letter of June 5, 2026, forwarding the names of the SDP’s nominated candidates, including Danlami Mohammed Musa, to the Commission,” the petition stated.
The party argued that INEC’s handling of the two letters raised questions about the consistency of its decisions and the legal basis for publishing Adamu’s name.
The opposition party also anchored its challenge on the May 10, 2026, deadline for political parties to submit their digital membership registers to INEC.
It maintained 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.
By contrast, the party alleged that Adamu was not an SDP member as of May 10 and was not included in the register submitted on that date.
According to the petition, Adamu’s name was introduced to INEC on May 29, 19 days after the deadline.
The SDP further alleged that Adamu had participated in the APC governorship primary election 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 satisfied the legal requirements for nomination as a governorship candidate.
It argued that the Electoral Act, 2026, did not permit the use of an updated membership register to circumvent the deadline for submitting party membership records to INEC.
The allegations and interpretation of the law formed part of the SDP’s grounds for challenging the commission’s decision.
The SDP also disputed the circumstances under which Adamu allegedly emerged as its candidate at a purported fresh governorship primary election held on September 5, 2026.
According to the party, the exercise was conducted outside the 14-day period it said was allowed by law following a candidate’s withdrawal.
The petition stated that the purported withdrawal occurred on June 9, 2026, while the fresh primary was held nearly three months later.
The party further alleged that the individual who purportedly withdrew in favour of Adamu was not the person whose name its national chairman had submitted to INEC as the duly nominated candidate for the election.
It maintained that Musa’s nomination at the May 26 primary remained valid and that there was no lawful basis for replacing him with Adamu.
The SDP listed eight grounds for its objection, including the membership-register deadline, the circumstances surrounding Adamu’s entry into the party, Musa’s nomination, the alleged withdrawal irregularity and the timing of the purported fresh primary.
The party also questioned INEC’s application of the Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), arguing that the implementation of the ruling should not result in Musa’s removal from the list of eligible governorship candidates and the substitution of Adamu’s name.
It insisted that the judgment should not be applied in a manner that disregarded the party’s nomination process and the membership records it said had been duly submitted to the commission.
The SDP warned that retaining Adamu’s name despite its objections would amount to a mockery of the law and the authority of the Supreme Court.
In a separate petition to the INEC chairman, Musa also demanded the restoration of his name as the SDP’s governorship candidate in Nasarawa State.
He described the publication of Adamu’s name as a grave violation of his rights and challenged the legal basis for the decision.
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