PRP crisis worsens as rival camp rejects Duke’s presidential primary victory 

Fresh crisis has erupted within the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) following the rejection of the party’s Presidential primaries outcome by the campaign organisation of Nnaoke Ufere, an aspirant.

The Ufere 2027 Presidential Campaign on Tuesday dismissed the result of the May 25 primary election, alleging widespread manipulation and vote inflation in favour of Donald Duke.

Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, emerged as the Presidential candidate of the PRP, for the 2027 general elections on Tuesday.

Duke secured the party’s ticket after polling the highest number of votes at the PRP Presidential primary held in Abuja.

But in a statement signed by the campaign’s Executive Director, Ishaq Alhassan, the organisation claimed the figures announced from several states exceeded the number of accredited party members contained in the register earlier submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the campaign, the discrepancies were glaring in States including Gombe, Bauchi and Kwara, where declared votes allegedly surpassed registered voters by wide margins.

“A register is a ceiling. Turnout cannot exceed 100% of accredited voters. Any vote beyond that figure is fundamentally questionable,” the statement said.

The campaign further alleged that the disputed votes overwhelmingly favoured Duke, whom it claimed neither actively campaigned nor participated openly in the process before the primary.

By contrast, the organisation said Ufere toured the 36 states and the FCT, funded mobilisation programmes and invested heavily in grassroots engagement ahead of the exercise.

It also accused some party officials of soliciting huge sums of money in exchange for delegates’ votes, insisting Ufere rejected all such demands because of his anti-corruption stance.

The statement additionally cited alleged administrative failures during the exercise, including delayed arrival of electoral officials, missing logistics funds and reported cases of intimidation at some voting centres in Abuja.