The about four-month controversy trailing the All-Progressives Congress (APC) primary election of the Yobe North Senatorial District has been put to rest after the Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, declared Bashir Shariff Machina as the rightfully elected candidate.
The presiding judge, Justice Fadimatu Murtala, pronounced the ruling on Wednesday. She consequently ordered the APC to submit the name of Machina as the authentic candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District after affirming the 28th May 2022 primary election conducted by the party.
The judge described the primary election where Lawan emerged as the candidate as “phantom”
Counsel to the second defendant, Kolawale Balogun told newsmen that his client would be appropriately advised on the next move.
For months, Machina and Senate President Ahmad Lawan who is representing Yobe North in the upper chamber have been at loggerheads over the ticket won by Machina.
Lawan had contested the presidential primary of the ruling party at about the same time as the senatorial primary won by Machina. The Senate president, however, lost to Bola Tinubu, a development that forced him to jostle for the senatorial ticket instead but Machina insisted that he won’t step down.
Instead of Machina’s, the APC forwarded the name of Lawan to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a development that prompted Machina to approach the court seeking INEC to recognise him as the authentic candidate.
Lawan has been in the National Assembly as a federal lawmaker for 23 unbroken years.
