The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court recognising expelled Shehu Gabam as the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, comprising Justices Fadawu Umaru, M.S. Hassan and L.A. Ganiyu, delivered a unanimous judgment on Wednesday.
In his lead judgment, Justice Fadawu Umaru declared the judgment of Justice M.G. Umar in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/402/2026 null and void.
The development followed an appeal filed by the SDP leadership under Prof Abubakar Sadiq Gombe against the Federal High Court judgment recognising Gabam as the party’s National Chairman.
The Court of Appeal held that the basis upon which the Federal High Court delivered its judgment was faulty, noting that the Supreme Court had already ruled on the matter in favour of Sadiq’s leadership.
Speaking after the judgment, SDP presidential candidate and counsel to the appellants, Prince Adewole Adebayo, said the appellate court unanimously ruled in favour of the SDP in all six applications considered during the proceedings.
He said the Court of Appeal also declared the Federal High Court judgment recognising Gabam null and void because it contradicted an earlier decision of the Supreme Court.
“Today, the Court of Appeal set aside the Federal High Court judgment which our former National Chairman and former and expelled member, Mr Shehu Musa Gabam, was using to compel INEC to recognise him as National Chairman, even though he has been expelled from the party, and to recognise another expelled former member as an acting National Secretary,” Adebayo said.
“In Today’s judgment by the Court of Appeal, six applications by the parties were considered, and the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled in favour of the SDP in all the applications.
“And the substantive appeal, the Court of Appeal took two decisions.
“One, that the judgment of the court recognising Shehu Gabam of the Federal High Court is null and void; it’s a nullity because it contradicts the decision earlier delivered by the Supreme Court on May 22, 2026, and no court in Nigeria and no person in Nigeria can contradict the Supreme Court.
“So, to the extent that the judge, Justice Umar of the Federal High Court, even entertained any question about the leadership of the SDP or even the opportunity to recognise our court hearing to Shehu Gabam and his team, it is null and void.
“Secondly, the court affirmed that Ajala, Dr Francis Ajala, having been nominated by the SDP as its governorship candidate in Osun State, the Federal High Court was wrong to even listen to the plaintiff, Salahu, who claims to be the SDP candidate for Gabam.”
Adebayo described the judgment as the conclusion of a prolonged legal battle over the leadership of the party.
He said the judiciary had played a significant role in resolving the dispute and providing guidance to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“That’s the summary of the long four hours of delivery. And you have to note that prior to these six rulings being made Today and the judgment of the Court of Appeal, last week the court itself had entertained a lot of applications,” he said.
“So, the judiciary has done very well for Nigeria and has guided INEC very well.
“I can tell you categorically, subject to the will of God, you will never hear of any leadership dispute in the SDP for the next 100 years. That is over and settled.
“It is how to get rid of Tinubu and his calamitous government that is now the agenda before the party and the people of Nigeria,” he said.
Also speaking, SDP National Chairman, Prof. Gombe, commended the judiciary for what he described as the expedited resolution of the case.
Gombe said INEC should respect the internal affairs and candidate-selection decisions of all registered political parties.
He said, “I hope, just as the presidential candidate, and I hope just as Dr Adebayo has said, he has said it all about the ruling, about what is the needful that INEC is supposed to do.
“And INEC will not just—we are not just calling on INEC to respect SDP alone, to respect all the political parties, the 22 registered political parties, and respect their internal affairs, respect their decisions about candidate selection and whatsoever.
“And I also want to use the opportunity to thank the judiciary for the expeditious way they were able to carry out this judgment in just about four or five days.
“And also, I want to use this opportunity to most profoundly thank our presidential candidate, who led the legal team, for the wonderful job they have done for the party, not just for the party but for our democracy and our nation.
“Indeed, this is something that will affect not only democracy in Nigeria but in other countries in Africa.
“Nigeria is not just for Nigeria in Africa. Nigeria, just like Nelson Mandela said, if we have exactly the right in Nigeria, we are going to get the right in Africa and the Black Nation are going to get the right.
“So, I would also use this opportunity to thank INEC for being ahead and doing the task of reproducing the ballot and including the SDP candidate even before Today’s meeting.
“Finally, I want to use the opportunity to thank you most sincerely, the media, for all the cooperation you accorded to us over the last one year of flux.
“You have seen and gone through all the challenges we have faced, and we have been up and doing, always very cooperative and reporting our issues very positively.
“So, we thank you most sincerely, and we hope this will continue and we are not going to take this for granted.
“Going forward, I hope you are going to do everything possible to continue to enlighten the public towards having three fair and credible 2027 general elections, with the SDP leading the pack of the other political parties in this country.”