The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a controversial Court of Appeal judgement, effectively reinstating Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade as the validly nominated governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the June 2026 Ekiti State gubernatorial election.
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The five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Garba, JSC, unanimously struck out the initial suit ab initio (from the beginning), ruling that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing (locus standi) to challenge the outcome of the party’s primary election in the first place.
The legal tussle began following the highly contested Ekiti State SDP governorship primary election, which produced Ambassador Alade as the party’s flagbearer.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, an aggrieved party member, Fayemi Tosin Babatunde, dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and four others to the Federal High Court.
Babatunde had challenged the venue and conduct of the primaries, pointing toward a parallel exercise that purportedly produced Engineer David Oludele Bankole.
He also sought pronouncements regarding the national leadership of the party, specifically targeting the faction led by Professor Sadiq Abubakar Gombe.
However, delivering judgement on January 19, 2026, Federal High Court judge, Justice Nwite, dismissed Babatunde’s suit on the grounds that he was not an aspirant in the primary election and therefore had no locus standi to sue.
In a surprising twist on March 27, 2026, the Court of Appeal, in a judgement delivered by Justice Nyesom-Wike, JCA, overturned the trial court’s decision. The appellate court went a step further by invalidating Alade’s candidacy, referencing an INEC report on Bankole’s parallel primary, and making sweeping declarations regarding the SDP national leadership.
Reviewing the six consolidated appeals on Tuesday, May 12, the Supreme Court reserved its judgement until Friday, May 22, choosing the lead case Fayemi Tosin Babatunde vs. INEC & 4 Ors (SC/CV/229/2026) to determine the fate of all parties.
Delivering judgement on Friday, Justice Garba faulted the Court of Appeal for acting without jurisdiction and venturing into issues it had no business meddling with.
“The plaintiffs had no locus standi, not being aspirants, and that single fact robbed the court of jurisdiction,” Justice Garba held. “The Federal High Court was perfectly right to have dismissed the suit for lack of locus standi, and having so dismissed the suit, should not have bothered to make other findings.”
The apex court was particularly critical of Justice Nyesom-Wike’s appellate judgement, ruling that an appeal brought forward by a person without legal standing cannot validly upturn an election.
“The Court of Appeal was wrong to have, on the basis of an appeal by an appellant lacking in locus standi and without jurisdiction, invalidated the Ekiti Governorship primary election which returned Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade as the SDP Governorship candidate,” the Supreme Court ruled, adding that the lower court also erred by relying on INEC reports of a parallel primary led by Engr. Bankole.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court nullified all pronouncements made by the Court of Appeal regarding the internal leadership of the SDP, reinforcing that political parties retain internal autonomy when courts lack jurisdiction.
“The Court of Appeal was wrong to have made pronouncements on the leadership of the SDP without jurisdiction. Those pronouncements pertaining to Prof. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe and the SDP leadership are hereby set aside,” the apex court declared.
In its final analysis, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal should never have disturbed the judgement of the trial court. It officially struck out the lawsuit and vacated all orders stemming from the March 2026 appellate ruling.
With this definitive ruling, the legal dark clouds hovering over the SDP have been cleared just weeks before the June 2026 Ekiti governorship election. Ambassador Alade’s name remains firmly on the INEC ballot.
While the certified true copy (CTC) of the written judgement is still being processed for official release to counsel, the oral delivery on the bench has already triggered widespread celebrations within the Alade campaign camp, ending months of anxiety for the opposition party.
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