Appeal Court affirms Machina as APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, has affirmed Bashir Machina as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Yobe North Senatorial District.
The court, on Monday, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State, which held that Senate President Ahmad Lawan was not the APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2023 elections.
Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen, who presided over a three-man panel, gave the affirmation in an appeal by Lawan, challenging the decision of Justice Fadimatu Aminu of the Federal High Court Damaturu, which had on September 28, 2022, declared Machina as the winner of the primary election organised by the APC in May 2022, while Lawan opted to contest the presidential primary election organised by the APC on June 9.
There has been a controversy over the senatorial ticket of the APC in Yobe north.
During the primary election organised by the party in May 2022, Machina won unopposed.
But the President of the Senate , Dr. Ahmed Lawan, was said to have participated in another primary election organised by the APC after he contested the party’s presidential ticket unsuccessfully in June.
Machina was reportedly asked to step down for Lawan but he insisted that he would not withdraw for the senate president.
Amid the controversy, the APC submitted the senate president’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
The electoral commission subsequently refused to list any senatorial candidate for the district.
Aggrieved, Machina instituted a suit asking the court to declare him as the authentic senatorial candidate.
In September, a Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, the Yobe capital, ordered the APC and INEC to recognise Machina as the candidate for the district.
Subsequently, the APC announced its intention to appeal the ruling.
Chairman of the APC in Yobe , Mohammed Gadaka, had said the party was duty-bound to protect Lawan.
“In the exercise of our legal rights, the Yobe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has decided to appeal the Federal High Court ruling in the interest of Yobe State, Nigeria and good governance,” he had said.
“We have a duty to protect and sustain Senator Ahmed Lawan’s twenty-three years exemplary sojourn as a lawmaker and his impeccable record of leadership and patriotism – and commitment to making Nigeria work.”
