Donald Duke back in presidential race after Abuja Court of Appeal reinstates him as SDP candidate

FORMER Cross River State governor Donald Duke is back in Nigeria's presidential race after the Abuja Court of Appeal reinstated him as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) this morning.

On December 14, an Abuja federal high court nullified Governor Duke's selection as the SDP's flagbearer after ruling in favour of a suit filed by his rival Professor Jerry Gana. 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.

However, the judgement split the SDP as the party's state chairmen refused to recognise Professor Gana as their candidate and have not joined him on campaign rallies across the country. At the SDP convention, Governor Duke polled 812 votes while Professor Gana came second with 611.

Now, Governor Duke has succeeded in reversing the lower court judgement, as in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel led by Justice Abdul Aboki, the court set aside the December 14, 2018 judgement. In addition, the court awarded N500,000 costs against Professor Gana in favour of Governor Duke.

Following the decision, the SDP has subsequently forwarded Governor Duke’s name to Inec as its presidential candidate. It is not yet clear if Professor Gana will take the matter to the Supreme Court before next month's elections.