The 37 state party chairmen of the Social Democratic Party, including
that of the Federal Capital Territory have rejected the Justice Hussein
Baba-Yusuf-led court order which declared Prof. Jerry Gana as the
presidential candidate of the party.
An FCT High Court had on
Friday declared Gana the winner of the presidential primary of the SDP
conducted on October 6, over alleged violation of the party’s
constitution.
Specifically, the court ruled that SDP’s National
Chairman, Chief Olu Falae, and the presidential candidate, Mr Donald
Duke, are from the southern part of the country.
Duke had won the
October 6 primary with 812 votes, while Gana polled 611, but the former
Minister of Information had approached the court to declare him the
winner on the grounds of zoning and rotation formula contained in the
party’s constitution.
But chairmen, in a statement jointly issued
on Saturday by its Forum’s Chairman, Oke Idawene and Secretary,
Abubakar Dogara, insisted that the embattled Duke remained the
presidential candidate of the party for the 2019 election.
The
chairmen said the court’s ruling was an act of gross injustice,
unconstitutional, null and void, adding that it will not see the light
of the day.
The statement read, “The party shall abide by the
unanimous decision taken by the party’s delegates and the mandates of
the 36 state chapters and the FCT when they convincingly and
overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Donald Duke in the October 6, 2018,
national presidential primaries of the party.
“The mandate given
to Donald Duke as the party’s presidential candidate is sacred, supreme
and so remained sacrosanct as the will and ultimate decision of party
members and leadership which no court can abort.”
The Forum said
it would use all available legal and judicial processes to protect its
mandate and ensure that the will of the people prevailed.
“We
wish to use this medium to assure the general public, especially party
members to remain calm and steadfast in their support and goodwill for
the party and its presidential candidate towards the actualisation of
the vision of the Party to rescue Nigeria through the 2019 General
elections.
“The SDP is working within the ambiance of the law to
vacate the order of the Abuja court where Prof Gana is trying to pervert
and arrest justice through his unlawful claims.
“Against this
backdrop, our legal team has filed an appeal against the order of the
High Court at the Appeal Court in Abuja. Therefore, we want to appeal to
all party members across the country to continue with their party
activities and campaigns with utmost decorum, decency, and orderliness,”
the forum explains.
Source:- Punchng
Leave a Reply