2023 Election: Court Finally Decides Fate of Lawan, Gives Fresh Directive to APC, INEC

• A federal high court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe state capital, has ordered the APC and INEC to recognise Bashir Machina as the APC senatorial candidate for Yobe North
• The court also ordered the ruling party to immediately forward the name of Machina to INEC as the authentic winner of the party's primary for the district
• Justice Fadima described the election that produced the senate president, Ahmed Lawan, as the party's candidate for the district as phantom

Damaturu, Yobe - The senate president, Ahmed Lawan, would not return to the senate in the 2023 election as the court has nullified the primary election that produced him as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Yobe North.

A federal high court in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, has ordered the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Bashir Machina as a credible candidate for Yobe North senatorial candidate, The Nation reported.

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2023 Elections: Lawan reacts to court decision that disqualifies him as APC candidate for Yobe North

Court says election that produced Lawan as APC Yobe north senatorial candidate is phantom

Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu ordered the ruling party to forward Machina’s name to INEC as the authentic winner of the primary election, which was held on Saturday, May 28.

Aminu, in his judgement, said the primary election that produced the senate president, Ahmed Lawan, as the party’s candidate for the senatorial district is a “phantom.”

Lawan contested for the presidential ticket of the APC but lost to Bola Tinubu.

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He had returned to Yobe state to jostle for the Yobe north senatorial ticket, but he met his waterloo.

The senate president, who did not participate in the Yobe North senatorial primary of the APC, has been at loggerhead with the winner of the primary, Bashir Machina, who has declined to step down for Lawan.

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The APC has insisted that Lawan is its candidate for the Yobe North senatorial district, but INEC has said its officials did not observe the election that produced the senate president as the candidate of the party for the district.

Lawan's 24 years of political dominance faces big threat as INEC locks door against APC

Legit.ng earlier reported that Senate President Ahmed Lawan has failed to make up INEC's final list of the senatorial candidates from Yobe state.

Lawan and Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom have been in the same shoe after contesting for the APC presidential ticket, where Bola Tinubu emerged as the winner.

The Yobe-born senator has been in the house of assembly since 1999, and his failure to secure the ticket in court would mark the end of over 2 decades of legislative relevance.

Source: Legit.ng