2019: Crisis hits SDP over choice of presidential candidate

BARELY few days after the Social Democratic Party (SDP), elected the former Cross Rivers State Governor, Donald Duke as its presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, mother of all crises has hit the party over his choice.

A group in the party under the umbrella of G19 at a news conference in Abuja kicked against Duke’s emergence as the candidate of the party in the election, saying his choice breached the zoning arrangement of the party which zone the position to the Northern part of the country.

Consequently, the Director General of the G19, Dr Ike Neliaku, who address the press on behalf of the group, demanded for the immediate disqualification of Duke who is from the South-South zone and the immediate declaration of the second runner off at the National Convention, Prof Jerry Gana, as the lawful winner of the convention.

The group which threatened legal action against the party should it failed to ‎retrace itself and follow due process said all complaints before, during and after the convention aimed at correcting the noticed flaws were ignored by the leadership of the Party.

Mr Donald Duke from Cross River State (Southern Nigeria) was returned by the SDP Electoral Panel as the presidential candidate of our Party have polled a total 812 votes.

Other results were recorded as follows: Prof Jerry Gans 611 Votes, Mr John Dara 104 Votes, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher 72 Votes and Ambassador Felix Osakwe 10 Votes.

According to the DG, “while the process was in progress, we drew the attention of some Party leaders to the fact that the presidential ticket was constitutionally zoned to the North. Therefore, aspirants from the South should have been accordingly advised. Sadly, this matter of zoning was ignored.

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“But in fact, our position is in line with the provisions of the SDP Constitution on the principle of Rotation and Zoning of offices, contained in Section 15.3 (i & ii) (SDP Amended Constitution 2018), namely that: 15.3 Rotation and Zoning of Offices i. The Party shall adhere to the principle of Zoning and Rotation of Political Offices based on the principles of inclusiveness, justice, equity and fairness to all.

ii The Party, therefore, shall observe the following:

a. The office of the President and National Chairman of the Party shall rotate between the South and North and amongst the six (6 geopolitical zones)

“Accordingly, since the National Chairman of our Party, Chief Olu Falae is from the South, it follows logically that in accordance with the tenets of our party, the letter and spirit of our Constitution; the contest for the Presidential candidacy of the Party ought to have been restricted to aspirants from the North.

“So our advice which was ignored, was not merely wishful thinking, but a weighty constitutional matter‎ indeed, the National Chairman of our Party, Chief Olu Falae, had earlier stated in a press interview published in the Punch Newspaper of May 13th, 2018 titled, “SDP will pick its presidential candidate from North – Falae”

“In answering a question from a Punch reporter, “Is the SDP picking its presidential candidate from the northern part of the country like some other parties?” Chief Falae had responded in the affirmative, “Yes, we are picking our candidate from the North – it may be from the North-East, North-West or North-Central.”

He stated that: “On the strength of the above Constitutional provision of the Party and the very specific assurances of our National Chairman, the G19 Team was influenced and encouraged to field a presidential candidate, in the person of Professor Jerry Gana.

According to him: “It is important to state that the National Chairman’s conclusive statement above, on the issue of zoning partly compelled the Professor Femi Olufunmilade, from the South to drop his earlier desire to contest for the Presidency of Nigeria on the platform of the SDP.

‎”Arising from the above, we expected the Party to do the right thing by disqualifying the affected Southern aspirants from contesting at the presidential primary

‎”We find it most appropriate to stress that the Supreme Court, in a plethora of cases, has ruled and asserted the fact that political parties must obey their own constitutions and guidelines, and where necessary (as provided by law) the Courts will intervene and wield the big stick to prevent arbitrariness. We wish to cite below for ease of reference, some Supreme Court rulings on this matter.

“It is trite that where a statute provides for a means of doing a thing, no other means or manner shall be permitted. The failure to comply with these provisions of the constitution makes the entire exercise null and void. See Nwabueze v Okoye (1988) 4 NWLR (pt 91) 664, Ezeobi v Nzeka (1989) 1 NWLR (pt 98) 478.

“In the light of the above, it is patently clear that in accordance with the SDP Constitution, Mr Donald Duke did not meet the condition precedent for participating in the presidential primary of the Party in the first place.

This singular constitutional provision clearly disqualifies Mr Duke from the contest. Accordingly, our candidate, Professor Jerry Gana, being the candidate from the North that scored the highest lawful votes, should be returned as the candidate of the Party for the 2019 presidential election.

“It would be inconceivable for the SDP, a Party founded on the principle of the rule of law, equity, fairness and justice, to be part of any process, whatsoever, that stands against its own Constitution, Core Values and Principles. We appeal to the Party to live up to its name and identity as a social democratic party, and can never be part of a lawless society. These were the very attributes of our convictions that motivated us and our supporters nationwide to fuse into the SDP in March 2018.

‎”As people of honour, we expect the leadership of our great Party, to do the needful by ensuring a firm, just, fair and timely resolution of this matter, in line with the clear provisions of our Constitution, which will go a long way to reassure many Nigerians that we are indeed serious about our core-values and directive principles of Justice, equity and fairness; Truth, integrity and honour; Transparency, accountability and zero-tolerance for corruption; Peace, security and solidarity, within the rule of law.”

The Group declared that:  “A prompt resolution of this matter will enable us to quickly re-engage the momentum on the crucial and urgent matter of nationwide mobilisation for the fast approaching 2019 general elections.

As at the Press time, frantic efforts were still being made to seek the reaction of the Party and its Presidential candidate on‎ matter.