Court sacks Ahmad Lawan as APC senatorial candidate for Yobe North

A Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State capital, has declared Bashir Machina as the authentic senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North in the 2023 National Assembly elections.

Justice Fadima Aminu, in a judgment, delivered, yesterday, directed Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept and publish the name of Machina as the candidate of the APC.

Machina had won May 28, 2022, APC senatorial primary for Yobe North, the district represented by Senate President Ahmad Lawan. However, the party substituted his name with Lawan’s after the latter lost his presidential aspiration to Bola Tinubu during the APC national convention in Abuja.

Machina, thereafter, approached the Federal High Court in Damaturu, seeking an order of the court to compel INEC to publish his name as the winner of the senatorial primary. He also prayed the court to direct the APC to send his name to the electoral commission as the winner of the shadow election.

The judge, on taking submissions of parties, subsequently ordered APC to submit the name of Machina as the authentic candidate for Yobe North senatorial district.

The court also affirmed the May 28 primary conducted by the party as valid and authentic.