SDP Presidential ticket: Gana rejects Appeal Court judgement

THE crisis rocking the Social Democratic Party over its Presidential Candidate in the forthcoming election took a new dimension on Friday as Prof Jerry Gana rejected Thursday’s Appeal Court judgement which affirmed former governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke, as the presidential candidate of the Party

Addressing newsmen ‎in Abuja yesterday, the Director General, G19 Presidential Campaign Team of Prof. Gana, Dr Ike Neliaku ‎declared that the judgement was characterised with flaw And irregularities which was strange in a democratic setup.

According to him, “we were utterly shocked and dismayed when the appellant lead Counsel thanked the Justices for their adventure into other matters not canvassed by the parties in the Appeal, this absurdity is one of its kind!

“Arising from the above and many other lacunas and contradictions in the judgement, we have carefully weighed the views and options presented by our stakeholders and supporters across the world, and resolve to accede to what is in the long term interest of our democracy.

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” It is, therefore, our considered opinion that the judgement of the Court of Appeal is erroneous, contradictory and a miscarriage of justice. The decision is therefore not acceptable to us

“Accordingly, our candidate, Prof. Jerry Gana, has resolved to appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court.”

‎” SDP is not for sale, buyers beware, we are not traders, we are not Merchants , we are Democrats, we are appealing to our compatriots across Nigeria and in diaspora, to remain calm, we must keep hope alive, being confident that we remain very much in the race for the 2019 presidential election

“We shall continue with the battle and the struggle to save the Soul of Nigeria, we shall overcome and bounce back soon, being fully persuaded that ” Our God is ‎the great God…..”.

The Appeal Court had overturned the low court which declared Prof Gana as the authentic Candidate of the Party and upheld the election of Mr Duke as the winner of the primary conducted at National Convention of the ‎Party last year

While congratulating Duke over his victory at the Appeal Court as parts of the core essentials and beauty of democracy, the DG stated that “as the Court process is going on, it is expected that Duke should urgently launch out and commence his presidential campaign activities nationwide with the objective of winning the 2019 presidential election for the SDP”.

He expressed shock that it was surprised to learn that “negotiations are already ongoing to mortgage and trade in Party in the Presidential poll and warned that such shameful move would be resisted while those behind it would be exposed and be disgraced.

David Olagunju