The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo and the Acting National Chairman, Dr Sadiq Gombe, have welcomed Friday’s Supreme Court judgment dismissing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s appeal on the party’s leadership dispute.
This is as he described the ruling as a major victory for democracy, party autonomy and the rule of law.
Speaking at a press conference at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, he said the apex court’s decision reaffirmed the long-settled legal position that the internal affairs of political parties are beyond the reach of external interference.
“This decision is very significant, not only for the SDP, but for all political parties in Nigeria,” he said. “It affirms the long-standing position of the Supreme Court that the internal affairs of political parties are for the parties alone to determine.”
The National Chairman urged INEC to fully comply with the judgment by allowing political parties to manage their internal processes in line with their constitutions, while also calling on political parties to uphold internal discipline and due process.
“We are grateful to the judiciary. We hope this judgment strengthens our democracy and the rule of law as we move towards 2027 and beyond.
“We understood their anxiety and passion; however, justice must always prevail. We expect INEC to henceforth stop meddling into the internal affairs of political parties, as this has long been decided and settled by the honourable Supreme Court.
“The commission must also stop any dealing whatsoever with suspended or expelled members of the party and immediately replace the name of expelled National Chairman, Shehu Gabam, with the duly recognised Acting leader,” he said.
Also reacting to the judgment, lead counsel to the SDP and its 2023 presidential candidate, Dr Adewole Adebayo, said the ruling sent a clear warning to INEC to refrain from actions capable of undermining Nigeria’s multi-party democracy.
“I have made it clear to INEC to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the SDP and other political parties,” Adebayo said after the judgment. “A multi-party democracy requires an umpire that is unbiased and not one that foments crises within opposition parties.”
Adebayo insisted that the SDP has no leadership crisis, maintaining that the party’s national officers — including the National Chairman, Sadiq Umar Abubakar, the National Secretary, Dr Olu Agunloye, and members of the National Working Committee — are validly in office.
He explained that the dispute arose after the party appointed an acting national chairman who wrote to INEC to nominate candidates, a step the commission declined to recognise, choosing instead to deal with a chairman already removed by the party.
“The courts were clear that INEC had no such powers,” Adebayo said, recalling that the Court of Appeal affirmed the SDP’s right to change its leadership and authorised the acting chairman to act for the party.
Despite those decisions, INEC pursued the matter to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal and awarded a ₦2 million cost against the commission — a penalty Adebayo said would ultimately be borne by Nigerian taxpayers.
“It is unfortunate for the taxpayer, but it is a necessary lesson for INEC to leave the SDP, and indeed all political parties, alone,” he said.
He warned that democracy would be imperilled if opposition parties were weakened through institutional interference. “If only the ruling party exists, there will be no democracy. Nigerians must have real choices,” Adebayo added.
The Supreme Court ruling, the party said, reinforces the principle of party supremacy and signals judicial intolerance for undue interference by regulatory institutions in the internal affairs of political parties.
The Supreme Court had thrown out INEC’s appeal challenging the leadership of the SDP, with the apex court also awarding ₦2 million costs against the commission.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court described INEC’s appeal as lacking in merit and purely academic.
