Supreme Court Sacks Gabam as SDP National Chairman, Restores Gombe Leadership

The Supreme Court has delivered a crushing blow to Shehu Gabam’s claim to the Social Democratic Party chairmanship, nullifying the Court of Appeal judgment that INEC had relied on to recognise his faction as the party’s legitimate leadership.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on May 22 in suit SC/CV/229/2026, Justice Garba set aside the March 27 Court of Appeal decision that had partly overturned the Federal High Court ruling in favour of Professor Abubakar Sadiq Gombe’s leadership.

The legal battle traces back to a challenge by SDP member Fayemi Babatunde, who argued that the Gombe-led National Working Committee was unlawfully constituted and lacked authority to conduct the party’s Ekiti governorship primary. The Federal High Court dismissed that suit in January, but the Court of Appeal later ruled that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to make definitive pronouncements on internal party leadership.

Following the appellate court’s ruling, INEC updated its records in April to list Gabam as National Chairman and Olu Agunloye as National Secretary – a move that the Gombe faction immediately contested.

With Friday’s Supreme Court judgment, the legal foundation for INEC’s recognition of Gabam has been completely dismantled. The apex court reaffirmed that political parties retain the constitutional right to manage their internal affairs according to their own constitutions.

Gombe, speaking to journalists in Abuja alongside former National Secretary Olu Agunloye and Senator Ugochukwu Uba, said the judgment vindicated the party’s National Executive Committee, which had ratified Gabam’s expulsion after disciplinary proceedings.

“The NEC, which is the highest organ of the party after convention, ratified his expulsion. He was suspended, investigated, given room for fair hearing for two weeks, but he refused to appear before the committee. He was eventually expelled and never appealed through the party’s internal mechanisms within the constitutional timeframe,” Gombe said.

The ruling ends one chapter of SDP’s leadership crisis but opens another – the party must now reconcile its factions ahead of the 2027 elections, where it hopes to present a credible alternative to the APC and the emerging NDC coalition.

Sources: guardian.ng, independent.ng, thenicheng.com