A’Court Declares Donald Duke SDP Presidential Candidate
Donald Duke
The appeal court has declared Donald Duke presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP).
Mr Duke had been declared as the presidential candidate of the party after the primary election held in October 2018 in which Mr Gana was also an aspirant.
However, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had on Friday, 14th December, declared Jerry Gana, a former Nigerian Minister of Information, as the presidential candidate of the SDP.
It would be recalled that the High Court had maintained that Duke’s emergence was in violation of a zoning arrangement the party adopted with a view to ensuring that a President and National Chairman of the party do not emerge from the same Geopolitical Zone.
Consequently, the lower court voided all the votes that were ascribed to Duke who was declared winner of the primary election, on the premise that he is from the Southern part of the country as the incumbent National Chairman of the party.
This was after Mr Gana had instituted a case against the result in court, basing his case on the zoning and rotation formula of the party.