Aspirant explains why he hasn't announced party for 2019 presidential election

Aspirant for the 2019 presidential election, Donald Duke, has explained that he hasnt decided which political party to run with next year because he doesnt want to be caught in a trap.

The 56-year-old announced his intention to run for president last month but has been coy about which political platform he'll use to pursue his ambition.

While speaking during an interview on Pulse Nigeria's on Friday, July 13, 2018, he disclosed that he is being strategic about his decision because Nigeria's current opposition is "in a state of flux".

The former Cross River State governor expressed his displeasure for zoning of party tickets to specific zones in the country, noting that it deprives others of their rights to contest.

He said, "We have about six months to the elections and we have to hit the ground hard running, going to communities and all that. We're not going to do it in a haphazard way.

"We'll start stomping when a few things have happened. We need to sort out the issue of platform. You know, CUPP and all that.

"If you ask Atiku for instance, 'What party are you running on?' he'd step back a bit because is it gonna be PDP...what's this coalition gonna look like? We know he's a member of the party and all that. The opposition is still in a state of flux, but that's normal; by the end of the month, that will sort itself out.

"But again, I also don't want to be caught in a web. You know we have this interesting way of getting people off the scene. They say, 'We have zoned it to this part of the country'. Well, I don't buy that. A few people can't stay in a room and decide where the country should go. It's a democracy so everyone should have the opportunity to put himself forward.

"So I want to be careful. I don't want to be caught in that web because if you jump on a platform and that platform announces that they've zoned it, before you even start the race, it's over for you. So you've got to be quite strategic about it and see what happens."

When asked when he'll pick a side and announce his decision, he said, "In the next month or so, it'll be clear."

Duke also noted that Nigerians are now more interested in candidates they can connect with than which parties they're running with.

"The important thing is send a message, connect with the people and see how things go from there," he said.