The Federal High Court in Abuja has reserved judgment in a suit challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission’s publication of Adewole Adebayo as the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.
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Justice Salim Ibrahim reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing final arguments from lawyers representing the parties.
The judge said the parties would be notified of the date and time for the delivery of judgment.
The suit was filed by the Social Democratic Party and its National Organising Secretary, Chukwuma Ogbonna, who are asking the court to compel INEC to recognise and publish Abimbola Atanda as the party’s duly nominated presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The plaintiffs claimed that the SDP conducted its presidential primary and national convention on May 20, 2026, in Abuja under the leadership of Shehu Gabam, who was then laying claim to the position of the party’s national chairman.
According to them, INEC monitored the exercise and subsequently issued a certified true copy of its monitoring report.
They further claimed that Atanda’s name and personal particulars were submitted to the electoral commission following the exercise.
The plaintiffs, however, alleged that INEC subsequently published Adebayo’s name as the SDP presidential candidate instead of Atanda’s, arguing that the commission’s decision was contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.
They are therefore asking the court to restrain INEC from recognising, accepting or publishing the name of any person other than Atanda as the SDP’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The suit is unfolding against the backdrop of a prolonged leadership dispute within the SDP, with the Gabam and Sadiq Gombe-led camps laying competing claims to the leadership of the party.
On May 10, a faction of the SDP announced Adebayo, who was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, as its flagbearer for the 2027 presidential election following a consensus arrangement reached at a national convention in Bauchi.
The convention also endorsed Gombe as the party’s national chairman.
In June, the Federal High Court in Abuja directed INEC to recognise Gabam as the SDP’s national chairman.
However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned that judgment in August, holding that the Supreme Court had previously determined the leadership dispute in favour of the Gombe-led leadership.
The dispute subsequently reached the Supreme Court.
On September 16, the apex court dismissed Gabam’s appeal after finding that it lacked merit.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Adebayo, who is also counsel to the party, described Gabam’s appeal as having “no life.”
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