A presidential aspirant of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Yakubu Kingsley, has taken legal action against the party and former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, over the party’s 2027 presidential ticket.
In a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Kingsley is asking the court to void Duke’s emergence as the PRP presidential candidate, claiming he was not a registered member of the party at the time required by both electoral laws and party guidelines.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1234/2026, lists the PRP, Duke and the Independent National Electoral Commission as defendants.
Kingsley is challenging the outcome of the party’s presidential primary held on May 25, arguing that Duke was not a recognised member of the party when its membership register was submitted to INEC on May 4.
He also raised concerns over the conduct of the primary, alleging cases of over-voting in some states.
According to the suit, Bauchi State recorded 760 votes despite having 593 registered party members. In Gombe, 1,431 votes were allegedly cast against 348 registered members, while Kwara reportedly recorded 82 votes despite having only 55 registered members.
Kingsley is asking the court to declare Duke ineligible for the primary and to nullify the election results from the affected states.
He further argued that Duke should not have been cleared to contest because he allegedly failed to appear physically for the party’s screening exercise at its national secretariat, as required by PRP guidelines.
The aspirant is seeking a declaration recognising him as the rightful presidential candidate of the party and an order directing INEC not to recognise Duke as the PRP flagbearer.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, Kingsley said he is a registered PRP member from Auchi III Ward in Edo State and paid N20 million for the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms.
He stated that he met all requirements, participated in the screening exercise between May 15 and 19, and was cleared to contest the primary.
Kingsley said he was surprised to see Duke’s name among the aspirants despite what he described as the former governor’s failure to attend the screening exercise.
He also claimed several party members had raised objections about Duke’s eligibility before the primary election.
According to him, the primary was marred by irregularities and inflated vote figures, adding that once the disputed votes are removed, he emerges as the candidate with the highest lawful votes.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 22 for the commencement of hearing in the matter.
The PRP had screened and cleared three aspirants for its presidential primary — Duke, economist Dr. Nnaoke Ufere and Kingsley — before eventually declaring Duke winner of the election held on May 25.
