SDP sinks deeper in crisis, as court declares Jerry Gana presidential candidate

The burgeoning crisis within the Social Democratic Party (SDP) got worsened on Friday as a court nullified the emergence of Donald Duke as the party’s presidential candidate.

An FCT High Court in Abuja on Friday declared a former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, the winner of the presidential primary election of the SDP primaries conducted on October 6, 2018.

The development followed the ruling of Justice Hussein Baba- Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama.

Duke had emerged winner of the presidential primary of the SDP and has been parading himself as the party’s presidential candidate.

But Gana, an aspirant for the position, who lost out to Duke, had approached the court praying it to declare him winner of the primary.

He had argued that zoning and rotation formula enshrined in the party’s constitution disqualified Duke from being declared winner and candidate for the position.

In his judgment on the matter on Friday, Justice Baba-Yusuf ruled that the regulations contained in the party’s constitution were binding on every member and must be obeyed.

He said the zoning and rotation formula as contained in SDP’s constitution stated that both the chairman of the party and the flag bearer should not come from the same zone.

The judge then said, “In this instance, the party’s chairman, Olu Falae, is from the South and Duke is from the South too. The law is clear; there is nothing to write in-between.

“The law has crystallised that political parties should abide by the regulations which they have made by themselves.

“The claimant laid sufficient evidence to have the judgment in his favour. It is a clear violation of the party’s constitution. The court cannot waive right over illegality.”

Consequently, Justice Baba-Yusuf declared Gana the winner of SDP presidential primary election conducted on October 6.

Duke had garnered 812 votes to win Gana who polled 611 votes during the October 6 primary.

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The judge in his ruling, also declared the 812 votes scored by Duke as null and void and ordered SDP to forward Gana’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

The judge ordered Duke to stop parading himself as SDP presidential candidate.

Recall that the vice presidential candidate of the party, a Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, had on Thursday announced his withdrawal from the race.

He had said he took his decision due to the many troubles in the party.

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