Inec refuses to name SDP presidential candidate as the party refuses to submit Gana's name

NIGERIA'S Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) has given the Social Democratic Party (SDP) special dispensation to file the name of its presidential candidate later than all the other parties because of the ongoing legal tussle over its flagbearer.

Last month, an Abuja federal high court nullified the selection of former Cross River State governor Donald Duke as the SDP's flagbearer in next month's presidential elections. It then declared former information minister Professor Jerry Gana as the party's candidate, ruling that Governor Duke should not have been elected by SDP's October convention as it had zoned the position of presidential candidate to the northern half of the country.

Agreeing with Professor Gana's argument, the court proceeded to rule that he was the bonafide SDP candidate, having scored the highest number of votes among its candidates of northern extraction. Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf thus ordered the SDP to forward Professor Gana’s name to Inec as its candidate for the 2019 general elections.

Quoting the SDP's constitution that prevents the chairman and presidential candidate to come from the same half of the country, Justice Baba-Yusuf ruled that the party chairman Chief Olu Falae, is from the south and so too is Governor Duke, that making his nomination unconstitutional. However, the chairmen of the SDP's 36 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory have said they will not work with Professor Gana.

Yesterday, Inec published the list of all the presidential candidates but when it came to the SDP, the slot was left vacant because the party leadership is yet to forward a name to the commission. Festus Okoye, the chairman of Inec's voter education committee, said the party had forwarded Governor Duke’s name as its presidential candidate prior to the court verdict but has not presented that of Professor Gana since.

According to Mr Okoye, Inec later received a court order that Professor Gana should be the SDP candidate and directed that the SDP should submit his name to Inec. He added that in line with the court order that the political party should submit Professor Gana’s name and Inec is still waiting for the SDP to do this.

Mr Okoye said: “At the time we published the list yesterday, the SDP had not forwarded the name of Gana as the presidential candidate of the party. If the party had forwarded the name of the presidential candidate as directed, Inec would have put up the name of Professor Gana on the list as the candidate of the party, so the onus is on the party.

“The court did not say Inec should substitute or put up the name of Gana as the presidential candidate of the party. So, we are waiting for the party to submit the name of Gana as directed by the court.

“It’s the political party that is going to be on the ballot for today and any time they submit that particular list of names of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, we will collect the list. If we go into the presidential election and we do not have the name of the candidate of the SDP, the logo of the SDP will still be on the ballot because the court did not direct that we should remove the logo of the SDP from the ballot."

He added that if  the SDP wins the presidential election, then it becomes a different ballgame altogether. However, Mr Okoye said he believes the party is law-abiding and they should, within the next few days, obey the court order and do what the laws says they should do.