Court fixes July 7 to hear suit challenging Duke’s PRP presidential candidacy

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed July 7 for the hearing of a suit challenging the emergence of former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, as the presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).

The suit was instituted by a fellow presidential aspirant on the party’s platform, Dr. Yakubu Kingsley, who is seeking the nullification of Duke’s nomination over alleged breaches of the party’s guidelines and the Electoral Act.

When the matter came up on Monday before Justice Mohammed Umar, counsel to the plaintiff, Felix Ipogah, informed the court that an ex parte application seeking leave to serve Duke with court processes had become unnecessary.

Ipogah explained that Duke had already filed a preliminary objection and a supporting affidavit in response to the suit, making the application redundant.

The court subsequently struck out the application following its withdrawal by the plaintiff’s counsel.

Justice Umar thereafter directed the plaintiff to serve hearing notices on the respondents—the PRP, Donald Duke and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)—ahead of the July 7 hearing.

Kingsley, who contested the PRP presidential primary held on May 25, 2026, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1234/2026 on June 10, naming the PRP, Duke and INEC as the first, second and third defendants respectively.

In the originating summons and supporting affidavit, the plaintiff maintained that he met all the requirements for the party’s presidential nomination, including the payment of N20 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms, obtaining the required endorsements, and successfully undergoing the party’s screening exercise.

He alleged that Duke was not listed in the PRP membership register submitted to INEC on May 4, 2026, in compliance with the electoral guidelines requiring political parties to submit their membership registers at least 21 days before conducting primaries.

Kingsley also claimed that Duke did not physically participate in the screening exercise conducted at the party’s national secretariat between May 15 and 19, alleging that objections raised against his eligibility were ignored.

The plaintiff further alleged widespread over-voting during the primary election, claiming that Bauchi State recorded 760 votes despite having only 593 registered party members, while Gombe recorded 1,431 votes against 348 registered members and Kwara recorded 82 votes against 55 members.

According to him, excluding the disputed votes would make him the aspirant with the highest number of lawful votes.

Kingsley is asking the court to nullify Duke’s nomination, set aside the results from the affected states, declare him the valid PRP presidential candidate and restrain INEC from recognising Duke as the party’s flagbearer.

The PRP had screened and cleared three aspirants—Donald Duke, Dr. Nnaoke Ufere and Dr. Yakubu Kingsley—for the presidential primary. The party’s National Working Committee later affirmed Duke’s emergence as its candidate after reviewing the report of its Primaries Appeal Committee.