Olu Falae asks all SDP members to boycott presidential campaigns organised by Jerry Gana

SOCIAL Democratic Party (SDP) national chairman Chief Olu Falae has appealed to all his members not to attend any of the events being organised by Professor Jerry Gana and his Presidential Campaign Committee.

On December 14, an Abuja federal high court nullified the selection of former Cross River State governor Donald Duke 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.

Since then, the chairman of the 37 branches of the SDP have rejected the court judgement, saying they remain loyal to Governor Duke. Yesterday, Chief Falae joined them by saying that the party leadership still recognised Donald Duke as its presidential candidate.

Chief Falae said that he had received a letter dated December 27 from Professor Gana seeking his leave as SDP national chairman to unveil the vision and programme of his presidential campaign. He added that Professor Gana also invited him as chief host at both the unveiling programme scheduled for Saturday December 29 and at the summit of stakeholders planned for Saturday January 5, 2019.

“We have also, through our counsel, filed a motion at the Court of Appeal, praying for certain reliefs including a stay of execution of the judgment of the high court and injunctive reliefs against Professor Jerry Gana, pending the determination of the appeal. All the relevant processes have been served on Professor  Jerry Gana’s counsel.

“In the light of the foregoing, we cannot and should not attend any of the events being scheduled by Professor Jerry Gana and his campaign committee as it will amount to a breach of the court process and may amount to contempt of court. I appeal to all party officials at all levels, leaders and members to stay calm and refrain from participating in actions designed to pre-empt the courts.

"We must remain loyal to the arty which is more important than any of us. We are all one party and we are all united," Chief Falae added.