Lawan loses out as court declares Machina as APC candidate

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has lost his bid to return to the parliament in 2023 after a failed presidential chase.

The Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Wednesday, declared Bashir Machina as the duly-elected candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Yobe North Senatorial District.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the slot vacant until the court give its verdict on the matter.

Delivering judgement, Justice Fadimatu Aminu directed the APC to submit Machina’s name to the INEC as the rightful winner of the party’s May 28 primary election in the district.

She held that the “phantom June 9 primary election” that produced Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President, as the winner and candidate, was a “nullity” because INEC did not monitor the election.

Justice Aminu also discountenanced the claim that the case was statue bar, saying the cause of action arose on June 17, not May 28.

The judge said Machina, the plaintiff, approached the court when he discovered that the first defendant, APC, had forwarded Lawan’s name to INEC as its candidate.

She, therefore, said the constitutional requirement of filing the case not later than 14 days from the election was not applicable.

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On June 22, Machina instituted the case, seeking an order to compel APC to declare him as the candidate of the district and send his name to INEC for publication.

He told the court that he won the May 28 primary election unopposed, declared winner by INEC and his certificate of return was duly issued to him.

Lawan did not participate in the APC primaries for the senatorial election, but the party leadership presented him as the candidate after he failed to clinch the presidential ticket of the ruling party.

Machina had protested the decision and approached the court for justice.

The Star