The Independent National Electoral Commission has plunged the Social Democratic Party into fresh chaos by officially recognising the Shehu Gabam-led National Working Committee as the party’s leadership, a move now tearing the SDP further apart.

On its updated list of registered political parties, INEC now boldly lists Shehu Gabam as National Chairman and Olu Agunloye as National Secretary of the SDP, alongside Hajia Maggie Mariam as National Treasurer and Aderemi Abimbola as National Legal Adviser, all stamped with the loaded label By Court Order.

Top INEC insiders are standing firmly by the decision, insisting they are simply obeying a Court of Appeal judgment. The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, and the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, both confirmed that the new line-up is a direct fallout of the appellate court’s ruling.

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had earlier declared Gabam the authentic national chairman of the SDP in an appeal filed by party member Fayemi Babatunde, who challenged the leadership that conducted the Ekiti State governorship primary. He argued that the National Working Committee led by Prof Sadiq Gombe was illegally constituted and had no authority to run the exercise.

In a twist, the Federal High Court in Abuja had previously dismissed the suit and backed Gombe’s leadership. But the Court of Appeal partially upended that position, ruling that the lower court had no jurisdiction to decide the SDP leadership tussle. It threw out the recognition of Gombe as chairman and invalidated the November 8, 2025 primary, even while noting that the appellant himself was not an aspirant.

Yet, in a move that has only deepened the confusion, the Court of Appeal still leaned on INEC’s own monitoring report to accept that the Ekiti primary was conducted with valid delegates and produced a winner, Mr Bankole Oludele, effectively separating the leadership crisis from the outcome of the primary.

The SDP’s sitting leadership is now openly at war with INEC over the development, accusing the commission of meddling in what they insist is a purely internal party affair. National Publicity Secretary, Rufus Aiyenigba, has come out swinging, branding the recognition of Gabam as unconstitutional and an unnecessary interference in the party’s internal processes.

Aiyenigba is adamant that no valid court order has been served on the party to justify INEC’s sudden shift. He insists Gabam has been expelled and therefore cannot legally function as chairman, portraying INEC’s move as an attempt to impose a leader on the SDP from the outside.

The party’s spokesman is already threatening a showdown, vowing that the SDP will challenge the decision and framing the entire episode as yet another example of what he calls a growing culture of impunity in the management of political processes in the country.