37 SDP state party chairmen refuse to accept Jerry Gana as their presidential candidate

ALL of the chairman of the 37 branches of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) have rejected the court judgement declaring Professor Jerry Gana as their presidential candidate saying they remain loyal to former Cross River State governor Donald Duke.

On Friday, an Abuja federal high court nullified Governor Duke's selection as the SDP's flagbearer in next year's presidential elections. Agreeing with Professor Gana's argument, the court ruled that Governor Duke should not have been elected by the party's October convention as the SDP had zoned the position of presidential candidate to the north.

Agreeing with the argument, the court proceeded to rule that Professor Gana was the bonafide SDP candidate, having scored the highest number of votes among its candidates of northern extraction. Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf thus ordered the SDP to forward Professor Gana’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (Inec) as its candidate for the 2019 general elections.

Governor Duke has already said he will appeal the decision but in the meantime, the chairmen of the SDP's 36 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory have said they will not work with Professor Gana. Oke Idawene, the chairman of the chairmen's forum and its secretary, Abubakar Dogara, issued a statement insisting that Governor Duke remained the presidential candidate of the party for the 2019 elections.

They added that the court’s ruling was an act of gross injustice, pointing out that it would not see the light of the day. Quoting the SDP's constitution that prevents the chairman and presidential candidate to come from the same half of the country, Justice Baba-Yusuf ruled that the party chairman Chief Olu Falae, is from the south and so too is Governor Duke, that making his nomination unconstitutional.