The Supreme Court has nullified the judgment of the Court of Appeal that invalidated the governorship primary election conducted by the Social Democratic Party, SDP, ahead of the June 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba in appeal number SC/CV/229/2026, the apex court set aside the appellate court ruling, which had also recognised the leadership structure of Shehu Gabam acknowledged by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal decision that invalidated the SDP governorship primary conducted under the leadership of Dr Sadiq Abubakar Gombe, from which Isaac Adebayo Alade emerged as the party’s governorship candidate for the Ekiti election.
The apex court restored the earlier judgment of the Federal High Court delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, which dismissed a suit filed by Fayemi Babatunde challenging the legality of the SDP governorship primary election in Ekiti State.
According to the Supreme Court, the Federal High Court was correct in holding that Fayemi Babatunde lacked the legal standing, or locus standi, to institute the suit because he did not participate as a contestant in the primary election he sought to challenge.
Babatunde had argued that the SDP governorship primary was conducted by a leadership structure that lacked the constitutional authority to organise the exercise.
However, Justice Emeka Nwite, in his January 19, 2026 judgment, dismissed the suit on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked locus standi and that the matter constituted an internal affair of the party beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Babatunde appealed the judgment, and the Court of Appeal, in a decision delivered on March 27, 2026, invalidated the SDP primary election.
The appellate court held that the leadership structure that organised the primary election was unlawfully constituted and in breach of both the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
The three member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Eberechi Nyesom Wike, alongside Justices Abba Mohammed and Oyejoju Oyewumi, further ruled that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to make conclusive pronouncements regarding the SDP leadership dispute.
The Court of Appeal consequently voided aspects of the lower court judgment recognising Dr Sadiq Gombe as the authentic National Chairman of the SDP and also set aside the validation of the November 8, 2025 governorship primary election.
However, the Supreme Court held that since the plaintiff lacked locus standi, both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the substantive issues raised in the case.
The apex court ruled that the Court of Appeal erred in invalidating the Ekiti SDP governorship primary election that produced Isaac Adebayo Alade as the party’s candidate.
It further held that the appellate court was wrong to make pronouncements on issues relating to the venue of the primary election, the SDP leadership dispute, and INEC’s report on a purported parallel governorship primary involving Engineer David Oludele Bankole.
The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the suit in its entirety for lack of locus standi and set aside all portions of the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on March 27, 2026.
