Donald Duke (born 30 September 1961 in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and cre ...

) is a Nigerian politician. He was the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Cross River State ) , image_map = Nigeria - Cross River.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location of Cross River State in Nigeria , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

from 29 May

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

to 29 May 2007 and the 2019 Nigeria Presidential candidate for

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

, SDP.

Personal life and education

Duke was born to Henry Etim Duke who was the second indigenous (after Ayodele Diyan) and longest serving Controller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (then referred to as Chairman board of Customs and excise duties) He attended Corona School, Lagos and

Federal Government College, Sokoto Federal Government College, Sokoto is a unity school that was founded by P.H Davis in 1966. History The school was the first of the first three unity schools, which were originally called Inter Regional Secondary Schools but later called Federal ...

. He received his

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

degree in 1982 from

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

, Zaria - Nigeria, the B.L in 1983 from the

Nigerian Law School The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up by the Government of Nigeria in 1962 to provide a Nigerian legal education to foreign-trained lawyers, and to provide practical training for aspiring Legal Practitioners in Nigeria. ...

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

and a L.L.M. in Business Law and Admiralty in 1984 from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Political career

Spearheading the incumbent debt of Nigeria, Duke pushed for democracy and against

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

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." Duke received praises for his contributions to the fields of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

, government,

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

and

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

, investment drive, and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and making Calabar the cleanest city in Nigeria. He initiated the

Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race The Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race is an annual 11.25 km mountain running competition that takes place in late November in Obudu, Cross River State, Nigeria. First held in 2005, it has the largest total prize money available of any mo ...

which attracted contestants and visitors from other countries.History
. Obudu Ranch Mountain Race. Retrieved on 5 December 2009. 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. He also initiated the

Calabar Carnival Calabar Carnival is an annual carnival held in Cross River State, Nigeria. The carnival holds every December and was declared by the then governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke as an activity to mark Christmas celebration yearly. He said ...

which started in 2004 and is popularly referred to as "Africa's biggest street party." Duke initiated the

Tinapa Resort Tinapa is a business and leisure resort located North of Calabar municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria associated with the Calabar Free Trade Zone. It was developed in four phases under a Private Public Partnership (PPP) promoted by the Gover ...

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.

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

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 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pre ...

(Four other governors were also reported as not under investigation but their names were not released.) 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 Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

. On 8 June 2018, Duke declared interest in running for presidency in 2019. On Tuesday, 4 September 2018, 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. On Monday, 14 June 2021, Duke was officially welcomed back to PDP by the party's leaders after two years of defecting to SDP to join the presidency race. He stated some reasons why he left saying that the party neglected and deviated from some of their core principles and also urged that the party returns to these principles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Donald 1961 births Living people Governors of Cross River State People from Calabar Peoples Democratic Party state governors of Nigeria People of Efik descent Nigerian Law School alumni Efik Ahmadu Bello University alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni

Personal life and education

Political career

See also

References