2023 election: Lawan may not return to Senate as APC candidate vow not to withdraw

Nigeria Senate president Ahmad Lawan may not return to his seat in the National Assembly after the 2023 general elections as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for his senatorial district vowed not to step down.

“I am still the candidate; I have not withdrawn and I will not withdraw for anybody,” Bashir Sheriff Machina who won the APC ticket for Yobe North Senatorial District said.

Lawan contested in the presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside vice president Yemi Osinbajo, former transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi and former Lagos State governor Bola Tinubu, who won the election.

The Senate president was the anointed ‘consensus’ presidential candidate of APC national chairman Abdullahi Adamu and did not purchase a nomination form to contest in the 2023 election to represent Yobe North Senatorial District.

Some political observers speculated that Machina was holding the senatorial ticket in trust for Lawan as an alternative plan if he looses out in his ambition to be APC presidential candidate.

Machina was the only aspirant to purchase the APC nomination form to contest a seat for Yobe North Senatorial District and was elected the party’s candidate unopposed.

Since the conclusion of the presidential primary election, the APC senatorial candidate disclosed that he is being persuaded to withdraw from the race to allow Lawan contest in the election.

“I am being approached by some persons but I will not withdraw, Insha Allah,” Machina said.

“As far as I’m concerned, I contested for the Yobe North senatorial ticket and I won the election.

“I was confirmed elected because there were other contestants but I was the one that was qualified. I happened to be unopposed.

If the APC candidate does not withdraw from the race, the next election will signal Lawan’s exit from the National Assembly since 1999; first as a member of the House of Representatives and later, a Senator representing Yobe North Senatorial District since 2007.