The Supreme Court has set aside key aspects of a Court of Appeal ruling relating to the Social Democratic Party’s leadership crisis and governorship primary election in Ekiti State, holding that the plaintiff lacked the legal standing to institute the suit.
The Supreme Court on Friday delivered judgment in the appeal of Fayemi Tosin Babatunde v. INEC & 4 Others, setting aside key aspects of an earlier Court of Appeal ruling relating to the leadership crisis and governorship primary election of the Social Democratic Party in Ekiti State.
The apex court held that Babatunde lacked the legal standing to institute the suit as he was not an aspirant in the disputed governorship primary, and that his absence of locus standi deprived the trial court of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Supreme Court faulted the Court of Appeal judgment, holding that the appellate court acted wrongly by invalidating the Ekiti SDP governorship primary that produced Ambassador Isaac Adebayo Alade as the party’s candidate for the June 2026 governorship election.
The court consequently struck out the suit ab initio and set aside all portions of the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on March 27, 2026, which had overturned parts of the Federal High Court decision dismissing the suit on January 19, 2026.
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