Supreme Court affirms SDP Ekiti primary, faults Appeal Court pronouncement

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.

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.