Early signs of “wahala” (trouble) have broken out in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as the National Secretary, Dr. Olu Agunloye, has petitioned the police hierarchy over an alleged plot to force him to resign, in the wake of the cross-carpeting into the group by former Kaduna State’s Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Agunloye addressed his petition to Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police.
“I petitioned the IGP about a person who forged letterhead paper and is threatening me to resign,” Agunloye said to journalists on Tuesday.
On Monday, El-Rufai resigned his membership of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and joined the SDP.
Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power and Steel and former Minister of State for Defence (Navy), had in 2016 joined the Social Democratic Party, becoming its Governorship Candidate for Ondo State.
El-Rufai, who served as Governor of Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023, has been critical of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, particularly since being denied clearance for a ministerial position by the Nigerian Senate.
The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory insisted publicly that President Tinubu secretly engineered his rejection at the Senate because he did not want him in the cabinet.
In announcing his resignation from APC, El-Rufai said he would work to unite opposition leaders against the APC: “Without prejudice to this decision, as a member of the SDP, I will focus on engaging with and persuading other opposition leaders and parties to join us and congregate under a unified democratic platform to challenge the APC in all elections and bye-elections between now and 2027 by the Grace of God.”
