The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistrate Court on Wednesday adjourned until July 28 the criminal case instituted by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) against its former National Chairman, Shehu Gabam, over the alleged mismanagement of party funds.
Speaking with journalists after the court session, SDP National Chairman, Sadiq Gombe, said the adjournment became necessary following the party’s inability to obtain the bank statement of account considered crucial to the prosecution of the case.
According to Gombe, despite several requests and correspondences, the bank failed to release the documents after receiving a counter-directive from Gabam, who was a principal signatory to the party’s account before his suspension and removal from office.
He disclosed, however, that the court had issued a subpoena directing the bank to produce the required statement of account. The bank subsequently requested additional time to secure approval from its headquarters and stamp the voluminous documents.
“The case has been adjourned to the 28th of next month as a result of our inability to lay our hands on one of the key documents that are going to be tendered for the case, which is the bank statement of account,” Gombe said.
“We applied to the bank, but the bank was not able to give us the document. Thereafter, we went through the court registry to subpoena the bank to produce the document. The bank informed the court that the statement involves a large number of pages and requires approval from its headquarters as well as certification and stamping of the documents. As a result, the matter was adjourned to July 28 for continuation of hearing.”
Gombe maintained that the party acted within the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, the Electoral Act and the SDP Constitution in disciplining members found to have breached party rules.
He dismissed claims that the SDP was factionalized, insisting that the crisis stemmed from disciplinary actions taken against erring members.
“I have said repeatedly that there is no faction in the SDP. What we have is an issue involving an erring member. The party exercised its powers under Article 19 of the SDP Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to sanction members who violated party rules,” he said.
The SDP chairman stated that a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting involving 15 members of the National Working Committee (NWC) sanctioned three members. He said one member resigned after apologizing, while the other two failed to appear before the disciplinary committee and were subsequently expelled.
According to him, the sanctions were ratified by the party and duly communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On the continued occupation of the party’s national secretariat by Gabam’s supporters despite a Supreme Court ruling recognizing his leadership, Gombe said the party had repeatedly sought the intervention of security agencies without success.
“Before we returned from Bauchi, they had already forcefully taken over the secretariat. We reported the matter to the Inspector-General of Police and I personally met him three times. We also wrote formally to the police authorities,” he said.
Gombe explained that the matter was referred to the FCT Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, with whom party officials held meetings and presented documents certified by INEC.
“We showed them all the relevant documents duly certified by INEC. They assured us that the matter would be addressed, and we believe that very soon the right thing will be done,” he added.