The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled in favour of former Cross
River State governor, Donald Duke, as the authentic presidential
candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2019 presidential
election.
Despite winning the party’s ticket in October
2018, an FCT High Court in Maitama had declared his victory null and
void and announced Jerry Gana as the SDP candidate in a December 2018 ruling.
The court had ruled in Gana’s favour due to
regulations contained in the party’s constitution that its national
chairman, currently Olu Falae, and
presidential candidate cannot be from the same region, with a zoning
policy that balances both positions between the northern and southern
parts of the country.
However, in a unanimous decision announced on Thursday, January 24, 2019, the Appeal Court ruled in Duke’s favour.
The three-member panel ruled that the zoning
section of the party’s constitution contravenes the Electoral Acts
stipulation for the validity of a candidate in any election. The panel
also noted that the particular section 18 of the party’s amended
constitution regarding zoning did not take effect until October 8, 2018,
two days after Duke had beaten Gana in the party’s primary election.
The panel also ruled the High Court’s initial
judgement to be “perverse and wrong”, noting that it was a violation of
Duke’s right to freedom from discrimination.
The court also faulted Gana’s position based
on the fact that he had signed an agreement before the primary election
to support any candidate that emerged victorious.
The court ordered Gana to stop parading himself as the SDP’s candidate and ordered him to pay Duke N500,000 in legal cost.
The presidential election will take place on February 16.