The crisis rocking the opposition Socal Democratic Party, SDP, in Kogi State has deepened as party executives have threatened to expel the party’s deputy governorship candidate in the last election, Sam Abenemi.
The Kogi State SDP chairman, Moses Peter Oricha disclosed this in Lokoja during a press conference on Thursday.
Oricha accused Abenemi of causing crisis in the party.
He warned those aspiring for positions in the forthcoming local government election to disassociate themselves from the Abenemi-led Caretaker Committee, adding that members of his group are the duly recognized state executives whose tenure will elapse in 2026 in line with the Constitution of their party.
“The Abenimi-led Caretaker Committee of SDP in Kogi are fake and should not be recognized. Our Constitution does not recognize Caretaker Committee or any other name they want to call it. Information reaching us shows that he has bought SIEC form from the other political party for the sum of N5,000 in other to cover their shame.
“As the chairman, alongside my other executives, the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) gave us authentic forms for candidates. Am still perplexed that the purported Abenimi-led Caretaker Committee is also distributing forms they bought from other political parties. SIEC can never give forms to a Caretaker Committee when the congress executives is still very much on ground.
“This is the biggest fraud of the century. We are calling on the appropriate authority to investigate this matter and ensure that those that are found culpable are brought to book.
“Also, I would like to tell the world that plans are on the way to expel the same Abenemi and his alleged group of fraudsters from our party SDP. This will be done in the next couple of days because he ran away from his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join us despite he (Abenimi) not decamping officially in line with our party Constitution.
“We gave him the deputy governorship ticket on a platter of gold because the party needs more members, but unfortunately, he is now determined to destroy SDP because of his own desperate and selfish interest, just the way he did to his former party which is the PDP.
“If not that Abenemi is so desperate, how can a deputy governorship candidate of SDP now be parading himself as Caretaker Committee chairman of the party? This is disgusting, preposterous, uncalled for and unacceptable.
“We won’t allow any desperate politician like Abenemi to pull our great party down in Kogi State. With the outcome of the 2023 governorship election, it is clear that SDP is the only strong opposition party in Kogi State that can wrestle power from the ruling All Progressive Congress, (APC),” he said.
Kogi SDP crisis deepens as party EXCO plots to expel deputy gov candidate Abenemi