Gana loses as appeal court declares Duke SDP presidential candidate

A Court of Appeal on Thursday, January 24, declared former governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke, as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP) in the forthcoming 2019 general election.

A three-man panel, led by Justice Abdul Aboki, set aside the December 14, 2018 judgement of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which had declared Jerry Gana the candidate of the party and unanimously declared Duke as the presidential candidate of the SDP, The Nation reports.

The court has also ordered Jerry Gana to pay Duke the sum of N500,000.

It was earlier reported that Prof. Jerry Gana presidential campaign team decried an alleged bias by the leadership of the SDP against its principal in favour of former governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke.

The director-general of the team, Ike Neliaku, frowned at the party’s refusal to submit Gana’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its presidential candidate as directed by a Federal High Court.

He specifically blamed the SDP national chairman, Chief Olu Falae, and the national secretary, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, for Gana’s travails. According to him, both leaders are acting a script other than the interest of the party, which they have manipulated thus far.

Recall that Duke had emerged SDP candidate at the presidential primaries held on October 7, 2018.

The party had declared Duke as the winner of the election and its flag bearer for the 2019 presidential election. SDP said Duke polled 812 votes, while Gana had 611 during the presidential primary election.

However, Gana, a former minister of information, who contested the ticket with Duke, instituted a case against the result at the Federal High Court in Abuja. On December 14, the court presided over by Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf delivered judgment in favour of Gana, declaring him as the right SDP candidate and directed the party to forward his name to INEC.