By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the judgment of the Court of Appeal which had invalidated the governorship primary election of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ekiti State and made pronouncements on the party’s leadership crisis.
In a unanimous judgment delivered in the appeal marked SC/CV/229/2026, titled Fayemi Tosin Babatunde vs INEC & 4 Ors, the apex court held that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to institute the suit because they were not aspirants in the disputed primary election.
The court consequently ruled that the absence of locus standi robbed the lower courts of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Supreme Court affirmed the earlier decision of the Federal High Court delivered by Justice Nwite on January 19, 2026, which dismissed the suit for want of jurisdiction, holding that the trial court was right in striking out the case.
The apex court faulted the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on March 27, 2027, by Justice Nyesom-Wike JCA, describing it as erroneous for entertaining an appeal brought by parties who lacked the legal capacity to sue.
According to the judgment, the appellate court was wrong to invalidate the SDP governorship primary election in Ekiti State which produced Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade as the party’s candidate for the June 2026 governorship election.
The Supreme Court consequently set aside the appellate court’s decision nullifying the primary election.
The court also ruled that the Court of Appeal acted without jurisdiction when it made pronouncements regarding the venue and conduct of the SDP governorship primary.
It further held that the appellate court erred by relying on an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) report relating to a purported parallel governorship primary election allegedly involving Engineer David Oludele Bankole.
Those findings were equally nullified.
In another major aspect of the judgment, the Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to make pronouncements concerning the leadership of the SDP, including issues relating to Prof. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe.
The apex court set aside all such pronouncements.
The Supreme Court, which heard six related appeals on May 12, 2026, ordered that the remaining five appeals should abide by the judgment delivered in the lead case.
“In the final analysis, the Court of Appeal ought not to have disturbed the judgment of the trial court,” the Supreme Court held as it struck out the suit ab initio for lack of locus standi and vacated all portions of the appellate court judgment that overturned aspects of the Federal High Court ruling.
