Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Donald Duke’s PRP Candidacy

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to nullify the emergence of former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) for the 2027 election.

Justice Mohammed Umar dismissed the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1234/2026, on Wednesday after ruling that it was filed outside the period allowed for pre-election matters.

The suit was filed by an aggrieved PRP presidential aspirant, Yakubu Kingsley, who challenged the outcome of the party’s presidential primary held on May 25.

Justice Umar upheld preliminary objections filed by Duke and the PRP, holding that the case was statute-barred under Section 285(9) of the Constitution.

The judge noted that the results of the primary were made public on May 25, while Kingsley filed the suit on June 10, 16 days later. He rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the 14-day period should have started from June 6, when the party’s appeal committee communicated its decision on his complaint.

Having found that the suit was filed outside the constitutionally prescribed period, the judge held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Justice Umar nevertheless went ahead to consider the substantive issues and also dismissed the case on its merits, finding that Kingsley failed to establish the allegations made against Duke and the PRP.

Kingsley had argued that Duke was not a registered member of the PRP when the party submitted its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on May 4 and therefore should not have been allowed to contest the primary.

The judge held that questions concerning membership of a political party constituted an internal matter of the party and were not justiciable in the circumstances of the case.

Kingsley had also challenged Duke’s eligibility on the grounds that he allegedly failed to comply with the party’s screening requirements and did not physically appear at the PRP national secretariat for screening.

Justice Umar noted that although the plaintiff referred to the party’s guidelines in making his argument, he did not present the guidelines before the court to support his claim.

The plaintiff further alleged that the May 25 primary was affected by over-voting in Bauchi, Gombe and Kwara states. The court rejected the claim, holding that Kingsley had failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that over-voting occurred as alleged.

In his originating summons, Kingsley had asked the court to nullify Duke’s emergence as the PRP presidential candidate, set aside the results from the three states over the alleged irregularities and declare him the winner of the primary.

He had also sought an order directing INEC not to recognise Duke as the PRP’s presidential candidate and to instead recognise him as the party’s candidate for the 2027 presidential election.