Supreme Court Nullifies Gabam Recognition as SDP Crisis Deepens

2027 Election Watch, Politics

Supreme Court Nullifies Gabam Recognition as SDP Crisis Deepens

The SDP’s leadership war has taken a dramatic new turn. What INEC had recognised by court order, the Supreme Court is now reported to have set aside, throwing Shehu Gabam’s chairmanship into fresh uncertainty and leaving the party’s Ekiti primary dispute even more explosive.

Atlantic Post

May 22, 2026

3–4 minutes

Breaking News, Ekiti governorship primary, Fayemi Babatunde, INEC, SDP Crisis, Shehu Gabam, Supreme Court

The Social Democratic Party’s long-running leadership war has entered a fresh and more combustible phase, with the Supreme Court now reported to have upended the Court of Appeal ruling that INEC had used to recognise Shehu Gabam as the party’s national chairman.

The development lands in a dispute that has already moved through the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal and INEC’s own records, turning what should have been an internal party matter into a national political and judicial spectacle.

At the centre of the crisis is appeal CA/ABJ/CV/126/2026, filed by Fayemi Tosin Babatunde, which challenged the legality of the SDP’s Ekiti governorship primary and the authority of the leadership that conducted it.

In its March 27, 2026 judgment, the Court of Appeal said, “The appeal succeeds in part,” while also holding that findings made without jurisdiction were null and void.

The panel of Justices Eberechi Nyesom-Wike, Abba Mohammed and Oyejoju Oyewumi then set aside the Federal High Court’s pronouncements recognising Dr. Sadiq Gombe’s leadership and validating the November 8, 2025 primary.

That appellate decision immediately reshaped the public face of the party. In late April, INEC updated its website to reflect a Gabam-led National Working Committee, listing Shehu Gabam as National Chairman, Dr Olu Agunloye as National Secretary, Hajia Maggie Mariam as National Treasurer and Aderemi Abimbola as National Legal Adviser.

The commission also marked the structure with the phrase “By Court Order”, a move that signalled official recognition, at least on paper, of the faction the Court of Appeal had appeared to favour.

The latest twist, according to the breaking update now circulating, is that the Supreme Court in suit SC/CV/229/2026 has now set aside that appellate judgment, effectively pulling the rug from under the basis on which INEC recognised Gabam.

The apex court’s weekly cause list had already shown the matter as Fayemi Tosin Babatunde v INEC & 4 Ors, with a related SDP case also listed, confirming that the party’s internal war had reached the highest judicial tier.

If that position stands in the form now being reported, the implication is stark. INEC’s “By Court Order” listing would lose its judicial foundation, reopening the question of who truly speaks for the SDP, who can lawfully summon organs of the party, and who possesses authority over primaries, nominations and filings.

For a party already weakened by factional distrust, the legal pendulum now swings again, and every executive title once stamped as settled may be dragged back into dispute.

This is not merely a clerical matter. In Nigeria’s political system, internal party litigation often becomes an instrument of power rather than a route to resolution.

When leadership legitimacy is determined by competing judgments, the consequences go beyond names on a website. They touch candidate nomination, ballot access, campaign control and the credibility of the party before voters, donors and rival political blocs.

That is why the SDP row matters far beyond its own walls: it is a warning about how quickly party democracy can collapse into courtroom warfare.

The strongest takeaway from the case sequence is that the SDP has spent months trapped in a cycle of suspension claims, counter-claims, court victories and administrative recognition.

First came the Federal High Court ruling in favour of the Gombe-led structure on January 19, 2026. Then came the Court of Appeal’s partial reversal on March 27. Then INEC’s website update in April.

Now, with the Supreme Court reported to have stripped away the appeal judgment itself, the party faces yet another reset, this time under the glare of the apex court.

For Shehu Gabam and his rivals, the real battle is no longer just about who occupies the chair. It is about who controls the machinery of legitimacy in a party that is trying to survive the pressure of factional politics while positioning itself for the next election cycle.

For INEC, the matter again tests how far it can lean on court orders when the judicial road ahead remains unstable. And for SDP members nationwide, the latest ruling means that the leadership question is far from finished. It has simply returned to the centre of the storm.