A former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, has hailed the judgement of the Appeal Court in Abuja that reinstated him as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Duke, who made an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Friday, described the Appellate Court’s decision as an “interpretation of law”.
“What happened at the lower court could be described as a political judgement. What happened at the Appeal Court was the interpretation of the law,” he said.
His comments come amid the lingering crisis over who flies the party’s flag during next month’s presidential election.
Duke had emerged the SDP’s presidential candidate after polling 812 votes to beat his closest rival and former Information Minister, Professor Jerry Gana, who polled 611, during the party’s primary which held on October 6, 2018,
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Gana approached an Abuja High Court in November to disqualify Duke as the party’s presidential candidate.
Consequently, he got respite on December 14 when the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court declared him the winner of the party’s presidential primary.
Duke, however, appealed the ruling.
On Thursday, the Appeal Court ruled in his favour by overturning the ruling of the FCT court that disqualified him as the party’s presidential candidate.
READ ALSO: Appeal Court Overturns Ruling Disqualifying Donald Duke As SDP’s Presidential Candidate
The former Cross River Governor, therefore, appealed to aggrieved members of the party to sheathe their swords and work for their victory at the general elections.
“You cannot get a 100 per cent support. It’s left for me to show leadership, to bring them onboard and reach out to Professor Gana and appeal to him so that we can come together and see a larger picture which is our party and the nation.
“I am doing that. I did that on October 7 and I am doing it again. Leadership is conciliatory and working together, building bridges. He may be hurt, but it gets to a point where pursuing interests works contrary to the larger interests.
“And I think we have gotten to that point. We have 23 days to the elections. There is hardly enough time to sell our views to the nation,” he said.
