{"id":120995,"date":"2025-07-25T17:43:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=120995"},"modified":"2025-07-25T17:43:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:43:39","slug":"sdp-refutes-el-rufai-membership-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/sdp-refutes-el-rufai-membership-rumours\/","title":{"rendered":"SDP Refutes El-Rufai Membership Rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has, once again, debunked claims linking former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to its platform, insisting that he is not a member of the party and is not involved in any discussions about joining or forming an alliance with its leadership.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the SDP National Publicity Secretary, Rufus Aiyenigba, stated unequivocally that El-Rufai has no\u00a0 association with the SDP and has not been in contact with any of its national leaders.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe attention of the leadership of the Social Democratic Party has been drawn to false claims making the rounds in the media, suggesting that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has joined our party or is in talks to do so. Let it be clearly known that this is not true. El-Rufai is not a member of our party and has no formal or informal relationship with the SDP,\u201d Aiyenigba said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He warned political actors against dragging the SDP into speculative narratives meant to create confusion ahead of the 2027 political season. According to him, the party remains committed to promoting credible leadership and will not be used as a platform for opportunistic political manoeuvring.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe are building a party of integrity, discipline and inclusion. We will not allow our platform to be used to launder the image of any politician with questionable antecedents. The SDP is not a dumping ground,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is not the first time the SDP has publicly disown\u00a0 El-Rufai.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Similar denials were made earlier in the year when rumours swirled about his purported interest in joining the party after falling out with key figures in the All Progressives Congress (APC).<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the 2027 elections drawing closer, the SDP leadership said it remains focus\u00a0 on internal restructuring and mobilising credible candidates across the country.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOur focus is on building structures that will deliver real change to Nigerians. We urge the public to disregard any information not officially communicated by the SDP leadership,\u201d Aiyenigba concluded.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has, once again, debunked claims linking former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to its platform, insisting that he is not a member&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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