The Ibadan Judicial Division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo Federal Constituency by-election held on August 16, 2025.

In a decisive ruling delivered on Friday, the appellate court also awarded a cost of ₦5 million in favour of the APC candidate, Hon. Adesola Elegbeji, effectively putting an end to the legal contest over the election.

The court upheld preliminary objections raised by counsel to Hon. Elegbeji, Mrs. Olayemi Badewole, SAN, and counsel to the APC, Dr. Remi Olatubora, SAN, when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. The senior lawyers challenged the competence of the appeal, arguing that the appellant, Ayoola Adesola of the SDP, failed to transmit a complete record of appeal to the court.

They contended that the omission was fundamental and deprived the Court of Appeal of the jurisdiction to entertain the matter. During proceedings, it emerged that the pre-hearing report of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal—upon which the appeal was anchored—had been removed from the record of appeal transmitted to the appellate court.

Badewole and Olatubora urged the court to decline jurisdiction, stressing that an appellate court cannot validly hear an appeal founded on an incomplete record. Counsel to the SDP, Mr. Adewole Adebayo, was unable to provide any explanation for the omission of the tribunal’s pre-hearing report.

The latest ruling aligns with earlier developments in the case. In November 2025, the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ibadan had struck out the SDP’s petition over the same by-election for want of diligent prosecution. At the time, counsel to the petitioner, Mr. Ebenezer Akingbuli, sought an adjournment after his witness failed to appear for the second consecutive time—an application strongly opposed by Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, counsel to Hon. Elegbeji, and Dr. Olatubora, SAN, counsel to the APC.

With the Court of Appeal’s decision, the legal challenges to the August 2025 by-election have been conclusively resolved, leaving Hon. Adesola Elegbeji’s victory intact and reaffirming the APC’s hold on the Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo Federal Constituency. From a governance standpoint, it’s case closed—procedural discipline prevailed, and the mandate stands.