The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), describing the case as lacking merit and having become purely academic.
In a unanimous decision, the apex court also awarded ₦2 million in costs against INEC’s counsel.
INEC had approached the Supreme Court to overturn the October 17 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, which upheld a ruling of the Federal High Court directing the commission to recognise and include SDP candidates in by-elections conducted across 12 states of the federation.
The appeal arose from a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1525/2025, filed by the SDP at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The party challenged INEC’s refusal to recognise its candidates for the by-elections, despite the fact that the primaries which produced them were monitored by the electoral body.
The SDP argued that INEC had no legal basis to exclude its candidates, having supervised the primaries in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
In response, INEC contended that the Court of Appeal erred in affirming the Federal High Court’s decision. The commission claimed that letters and notices submitted on behalf of the SDP were invalid because they were signed by the party’s Acting National Chairman, Dr. Sadiq Abubakar, and its National Secretary, Dr. Olu Agunloye, whom it alleged had been suspended.
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According to INEC, the purported suspension of the two officials rendered all documents signed by them—including nomination letters for the by-elections—null and void.
Despite INEC’s arguments, the Federal High Court ordered the commission to recognise and include all SDP candidates on the ballot papers for the by-elections. Although INEC complied with the order, it proceeded to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, dismissed INEC’s appeal and affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court, holding that the commission acted wrongly in excluding the SDP candidates.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, INEC further appealed to the Supreme Court.
However, in dismissing the appeal, a five-member panel of the apex court ruled that the matter had become an academic exercise, noting that the by-elections had already been concluded and the winners sworn into office.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris held that there was no basis for interfering with the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.
“The substratum of this appeal has been dissipated. Courts do not engage in the determination of academic questions,” the court ruled.
The Supreme Court further held that there was no live issue requiring judicial intervention and declined to entertain questions relating to the interpretation of the Electoral Act in the absence of an existing dispute.
Consequently, the appeal was dismissed in its entirety, with ₦2 million costs awarded against INEC’s lawyer.
