Olu Agunloye, the national secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has petitioned Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police, over an alleged plot to force him to resign, TheCable can report.
Sources told TheCable that members of the SDP loyal to Nasir el-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna state who just joined the party, are pushing for Agunloye’s resignation.
Agunloye confirmed filing the petition when contacted by TheCable on Tuesday.
“I petitioned the IG about a person who forged letterhead paper and is threatening me to resign,” Agunloye said.
On Monday, el-Rufai resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and joined the SDP after months of strategic meetings with opposition party leaders.
El-Rufai, who served as governor of Kaduna state from 2015 to 2023, has been critical of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, particularly since the senate declined to confirm him as minister.
In February, el-Rufai said Nigerians should not believe the narrative that the national assembly rejected him as a ministerial nominee, noting that Tinubu did not want him in his cabinet.
In a statement announcing his resignation from the 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,” he said.
“I, therefore, call on all our supporters and other persons concerned about our country’s future to join us in the SDP in the journey towards making Nigeria flourish as a beacon of pride for Africans and the Black Race.”
On Tuesday, Adewole Adebayo, the SDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, celebrated el-Rufai’s defection to the party, describing the former Kaduna governor as an “asset with a verifiable and measurable track record of public performance”.