By Olajiire Ishola and Lukman Olabiyi
South West chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as well as civil societies, have said the presidential candidate of the party remains Prof. Jerry Gana and have condemned yesterday’s judgment which reinstated former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke as the party’s flag-bearer.
The group insisted they stand by the decision of the party’s national convention in Abuja, on October 6, 2018, which returned Gana as the presidential candidate.
This was made known at a press conference organised by the body, at Iyana Iba, a Lagos State suburb.
The group, led by the South West Coordinator, Vincent Bakare, said the leadership had gone contrary to what the party’s constitution says about the nomination of the presidential candidate.
The party, the group said, at its national convention on October 6 2018, elected Prof. Gana as its presidential candidate, but, to the members’ surprise, the leadership, led by the National Chairman, Olu Falae, submitted the former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke’s name as the presidential candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group said this was the reason Gana went to the Federal High Court, Abuja to seek redress.
The group said the judgment given on December 14, 2018, restored Gana as the presidential candidate of the party, a copy of which was submitted to the INEC.
Bakare, while explaining the group’s position, said it was an agreement of the party, from the onset, that the North will produce the presidential candidate while the vice president will come from the South.
He then urged the party leadership to, with immediate effect, submit Gana’s name to INEC as the presidential candidate, to avoid a showdown.
He said: “We, members of South West SDP labour and civil societies and other members of the party, from the six states making up South West zone, resolve to follow and honour the revered fundamental tenet of democracy, abiding with the rule of law, due process and equity and justice.
“We, hereby, jointly and severally notify the public that South West zone of the SDP support the candidature of Prof. Gana as the de facto and de jure presidential candidate of our party, and we abhor, in strongest terms, the nauseating demeanour of our national chairman and others, in their unfolding self-killing antics within the party.”
Meanwhile, Lagos State chapter of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) has sacked its Chairman, Kolawole Ajayi, for alleged indiscipline and gross misconduct in the management of the affairs of the party.
According to a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ms Olayinka Nola, at the end of an emergency general congress of the party, in Lagos, on Tuesday night, the decision followed the recommendation of a disciplinary committee set up to investigate the allegations against the chairman
Some of the grouse against Ajayi, as contained in the communiqué made available to newsmen, in Lagos, yesterday, include, lack of transparency in the management of the party’s affairs and overstaying in office as against provisions of the party’s constitution.
“Ajayi is running forth term as the state chairman. This is contrary to the party’s constitution as contained in Article 15, Sub Section 2 and 3 of the Alliance for Democracy.”
In another development, following a judgment given at the Appeal Court, yesterday, upholding the former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, coalition of SDP