An FCT High Court in Maitama on Friday declared a former minister of information Jerry Gana the winner of the presidential primary election of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) conducted on October 6.
The party had declared a former governor of Cross River State Donald Duke the winner of the election and its flag bearer for the 2019 elections.
The party said that Mr Duke polled 812 votes while Mr Gana had 611.
However, Gana went to court seeking that it would declare him the winner in line with the zoning and rotation formula of the party’s constitution.
In his judgement, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf held that the regulations contained in the party’s constitution were binding on every member and must be obeyed.
He held that the zoning and rotation formula as contained in the party’s constitution stipulated that both the chairman of the party and the flag bearer should not come from the same zone.
“In this instance, the party’s Chairman, Chief Olu Falae, is from the South and Duke is from the South too; the law is clear; there is nothing to write in-between.
“The law has crystallised that political parties should abide by the regulations which they have made by themselves.
“The claimant laid sufficient evidence to have the judgment in his favour; it is a clear violation of the party’s constitution; the court cannot wave right over illegality,” Mr Baba-Yusuf said.
The judge therefore declared Gana the winner of SDP presidential primary election.
He also declared Duke’s 812 votes null and void, ordering SDP to forward Gana’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s flag bearer.
In addition, Baba-Yusuf ordered that Duke should stop parading himself as the party’s presidential candidate.
