Presidential candidate of
the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and a former Governor of Cross River State,
Mr. Donald Duke says he remains the candidate of the party in Saturday’s
presidential election despite his party’s endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari
of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, who is seeking reelection.
The defiant Duke in a
statement released after the national executive of the SDP announced its
decision, said he remains on the ballot as the SDP’s candidate regardless of
the endorsement of Buhari.
The full text of the
statement reads:
“The Social Democratic
Party and the state of play
This afternoon, the
National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Social Democrats Party (SDP) came up
with a decision to endorse the APC and its candidate, President Mohammadu
Buhari for the February 16th Presidential election. This decision has arisen
according to the party, as a result of protracted legal squabbles within the
party which has made the party unable to commence a decent campaign.
Regardless and for the
avoidance of doubt, I Donald Duke, remain on the ballot and the candidate of
the SDP as recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This unfortunate saga, is
as a result of an aspirant who lost at the party primaries on the 6th of
October fair and square, does not query the conduct of the primaries but rather
resorts to bigotry, querying my suitability to contest for the presidency on
grounds that I come from “the wrong part of the country”. The Federal Court of
Appeal has put this matter to rest. The office of President and any
constitutional office for that matter, does not belong to any party and
therefore not for a party to zone. What is more worrisome for our nascent party
is its inability to rein in its members, particularly sore losers. Internal
management of party affairs has been the bane of our democracy.
My decision to run on an
untainted political platform rather than on one which I was a founding member,
is grounded on a desire to afford our electorate and indeed our nation a clean
break, options and alternatives to her current gladiators. For the SDP NEC to
thereby endorse the APC or any other party, is rather unfortunate and betrays
in my opinion, the desire of the vast majority of our party members and
Nigerians credible alternatives to our nation’s leadership. I need not say
more, suffice that I remain on the ballot and thereby still present myself as a
candidate for the office of President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you and look forward
to your endorsement on the 16th of February 2019.”
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