SDP gives INEC 24 hours to restore IPAC chairman Musa, withdraw Adamu's name

The Social Democratic Party, SDP, has issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to restore the name of Danlami Mohammed Musa as its governorship candidate in Nasarawa State, describing the replacement of his name with Mohammed Abubakar Adamu in INEC’s final list as “illegal and unlawful.”

In a petition dated October 21, 2026, addressed to the INEC Chairman at the commission’s headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, the party threatened to drag INEC to court if it fails to comply.

The petition, signed by SDP National Chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam, and Acting National Secretary, Uchechukwu Chukwuma, and acknowledged by INEC the same day, accused the commission of mocking the authority of the Supreme Court.

Musa, who is the Nasarawa State Chairman of SDP and also the state Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, emerged as the party’s governorship candidate through a consensus primary held on May 26, 2026.

The party said it is baffled that INEC accepted Gabam’s letter dated May 29, 2026, which introduced Adamu into the SDP after he resigned from APC on May 24, but rejected another letter dated June 5, 2026, in which the same Gabam forwarded Musa’s name as the duly nominated 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,” the party queried.

According to the SDP, Musa’s name was already in the membership register submitted to INEC by the May 10, 2026 deadline, while Adamu was not.

The party noted that Adamu participated in the APC governorship primary on May 21, resigned on May 24, joined SDP on May 29, 19 days after INEC’s register deadline and therefore was not eligible.

The party hinged its objection on eight grounds, including that the Electoral Act, 2026 does not recognise an “updated register,” that Musa never withdrew from the race, and that a purported fresh primary held on September 5, 2026 which produced Adamu fell outside the 14-day window allowed after a withdrawal that allegedly occurred on June 9.

In a separate petition to INEC, Musa himself described the publication of Adamu’s name as a “grave violation of his rights and a mockery of the law and the authority of the Supreme Court.”