The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to nullify former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke’s emergence as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) for the 2027 election.
Justice Mohammed Umar dismissed the suit filed by an aggrieved PRP presidential aspirant, Yakubu Kingsley, ruling that the case was statute-barred.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1234/2026, was filed on June 10, 2026, following the PRP presidential primary held on May 25, at which Duke emerged as the party’s candidate.
Justice Umar held that the matter was a pre-election case and should have been filed within the 14-day period provided under Section 285(9) of the Constitution.
The judge rejected Kingsley’s argument that the 14-day period should have started counting from June 6, when the party’s appeal committee communicated its decision on his complaint.
The court consequently declined jurisdiction, having found that the suit was filed outside the constitutionally prescribed period.
Justice Umar, however, went further to consider the substance of the case and also dismissed Kingsley’s claims for lack of sufficient proof.
Kingsley had challenged Duke’s eligibility to contest the PRP primary, arguing that Duke was not a registered member of the party when its membership register was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on May 4.
The judge held that membership of a political party was an internal matter of the party and was not justiciable in the circumstances of the case.
Kingsley had also alleged that Duke failed to comply with the party’s screening guidelines by not appearing physically at the PRP national secretariat. However, the judge noted that although the plaintiff relied on the party’s guidelines, he failed to produce the document before the court.
The plaintiff further challenged the primary election results in Bauchi, Gombe and Kwara States over alleged over-voting. The court rejected the claim, holding that the allegation was not sufficiently proved.
Kingsley had asked the court to cancel the affected results, declare him the PRP presidential candidate and direct INEC not to recognise Duke as the party’s flagbearer.
With the suit dismissed, the court has declined the attempt to invalidate Duke’s emergence through the case brought before it.
Duke, who served as Governor of Cross River State from 1999 to 2007, is now the PRP’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election, subject to the applicable electoral processes.
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