Biography of Donald duke

Donald Duke (born 30 September, 1961 in Calabar ) is a Nigerian politician. He was the Governor of Cross River State , Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007 and the 2019 Nigeria Presidential candidate for Social Democratic Party, SDP [1][2] .
Personal life and education
Duke was born to Henry Etim Duke, and the second indigenous (after Ayodele Diyan) and longest ever serving Controller General (then referred to as Chairman board of Customs and excise duties) [3] of the Nigerian Customs service.
He attended Corona School, Lagos and Federal Government College, Sokoto .[4]
He received his LLB degree in 1982 from Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria - Nigeria, the B.L in 1983 from the
Nigerian Law School, Lagos and a L.L.M. in Business Law and Admiralty in 1984 from University of Pennsylvania .[5]
Political career
Spearheading the incumbent debt of Nigeria, Duke pushed for democracy and against military control. He stated; "What got the military out of power was not democracy but the dreadful state of the economy. If we, the democratic government, cannot deliver food for the mass of people we can forget about democracy." [6]
Duke received praises for his contributions to the fields of agriculture , urban development , government,
environment , information and communication , investment drive, and tourism and making Calabar the cleanest city in Nigeria. [7]
He initiated the Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race which attracted contestants and visitors from other countries. [8][9] In 2005, he created a special reserve fund for the state meant to ‘‘hedge against economic downturn, and the inevitable rainy day’’. This was meant to cushion the effect of unforeseeable economic challenges that may occasion uncertainty in the state's Internally generated revenue, as well as monthly allocation from the federal government. [10]
He also initiated the Calabar Carnival which started in 2004 and is popularly referred to as "Africa's biggest street party." [11]
Donald Duke initiated the Tinapa Resort project as a way to boost business and tourism in the state. Over $350 million was spent on initial development before phase 1 opening in April 2007. [12] BBC reported in September 2006 that Governor Duke was the only governor specifically mentioned as not being under investigation by the federal Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Four other governors were also reported as not under investigation but their names were not released.) [13]
Donald Duke announced that he would run for the presidency in the 2007 presidential election, but stepped aside in favour of the eventual winner, Umaru Yar'Adua .
On 8th June 2018, Donald Duke declared interest in running for presidency in 2019 with media at the top of the decision publicity. [14]
On Tuesday, 4th September, 2018, Donald Duke after much silence as to what party he'll be running under for president, announced that he'll be leaving PDP and run under SDP [15]
References
1. ^ Nnochiri, Ikechukwu. "Breaking: A-Court affirms Duke as SDP Presidential candidate" . Vanguard. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
2. ^ Toromade, Samson. "Ex-Governor officially declares to run for president in 2019" . Pulse . Retrieved 13 February 2019.
3. ^ https://www.nigerianbulletin.com/threads/reforming-the-nigeria-customs-service.151796/
4. ^ Ogunbiyi, Yemi (3 September 2006). "Nigeria: Term Limits for Elected Office Holders Undemocratic, Gov. Donald Duke" . AllAfrica. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
5. ^ "nigerdeltacongress.com" .
www.nigerdeltacongress.com . Retrieved 2018-01-02.
6. ^ Odious Debts - A new deal for Africa: Rooting out looters: Nigeria new president aims for debt relief
Archived 27 November 2003 at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ [1] Archived 30 November 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
8. ^ History Archived 3 January 2010 at the
Wayback Machine . Obudu Ranch Mountain Race. Retrieved on 2009-12-05.
9. ^ Hughes, Danny (21 November 2007). Reigning champions return to contest world’s richest mountain running race - Preview . IAAF . Retrieved on 2009-12-05.
10. ^ Valentine Achum http://sunnewsonline.com/managing-recession-the-duke-obi-examples/ Daily Sun, OCT 11, 2016. VOL 13 NO. 3512
11. ^ Webmaster. "History of Calabar Carnival" .
www.nico.gov.ng . Retrieved 2018-01-31.
12. ^ "Nigeria: Tinapa, Africa's Premier Business-Tourism Resort Opens Monday April 2" . Huluq . 1 April 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
13. ^ "Nigeria governors in graft probe" . BBC News . 28 September 2006.
14. ^ http://www.pulse.ng/news/politics/donald-duke-officially-declares-to-run-for-president-in-2019-
15. ^ "Donald Duke dumps PDP, picks SDP presidential form" . Punch Newspapers . Retrieved 2018-09-05.