The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court which affirmed Dr Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe as the authentic National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The unanimous judgment of a three-member panel of justices of the appellate court delivered on March 27, 2026, is on appeal marked, CA/ABJ/CV/126/2026, filed by an aggrieved party member, Fayemi Tosin Babatunde.

According to the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the appellant approached the court to contest the validity of the Ekiti State governorship primary election, arguing that the leadership responsible for organising the process was not authentic and lacked the legal authority to appoint an electoral committee.

The appellant’s grievances, centred on the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Dr Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe and Dr Olu Agunleye, alleging that the leadership was “illegally constituted” and had failed to follow the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act in conducting primaries.

But the party has reaffirmed Gombe as its legitimate National Chairman, dismissing what it described as false claims and misrepresentation of court rulings by expelled former chairman, Shehu Musa Gabam.

In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, the SDP insisted that recent judgments of the Court of Appeal were strictly related to governorship primary elections in Ekiti State and not the party’s leadership structure.

According to the party, Gabam’s attempt to portray the court rulings as affecting leadership was “a deliberate distortion of facts,” stressing that no court has removed Gombe as chairman.

The SDP further clarified that Gabam was not a party to the suit in question and was never mentioned in the judgment, which the party said dealt solely with grievances arising from primary elections in Ekiti and Osun states.

The statement emphasised that internal party leadership matters remain the exclusive jurisdiction of political parties and cannot be determined by courts.

Reiterating its position, the party noted that Gabam had been suspended in June 2025, investigated for alleged financial misappropriation, and subsequently expelled in October 2025, with the decision ratified by the National Executive Committee on March 9, 2026.