2023: I May Be The Next Senate President – Candidate Who Refused To Step Down For Lawan

Bashir Machina, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Yobe North Senatorial District, on Wednesday said he might be the next Senate President come 2023.

This is coming at the time Machina insisted he won’t step down for Senate President, Ahmad Lawan who was defeated in the party’s presidential primary.

Lawan having lost the APC presidential ticket hoped to pick up the ticket of Yobe North Senatorial District which he has represented for 15 years, but Machina failed to step down for him.

Machina in an interview with Leadership stated that he is going to the Senate to improve upon Lawan’s performance.

He said, “We were lucky that our senator became the Senate President. By becoming the Senate President there’s nothing… Any Senator can be the Senate President. I may likely be the next Senate President. Who knows? I was in the National Assembly long before Ahmad.”

Speaking on the call to withdraw for Lawan he said, “Surely, I am not going back. I wrote a letter to the party to say I am staying in the race. There is nowhere in the party guidelines that says the ticket should at any time be given to someone that didn’t participate in the primary.

“The voluntary withdrawal form was attached to the nomination form which was about 16 pages. Form 15 is a withdrawal form, so I simply left it. I didn’t fill it because I felt I was not going to withdraw from the contest. And there is no place in the form that says he must fill all the forms.”

He added that if Lawan was serious about his place in the Senate he would not have contested for the presidency.