Ahmad Lawan vs Machina: INEC Gives Update On Yobe North Senatorial Candidate

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that it is yet to certify any All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Yobe North senatorial seat for the 2023 elections.

The update was given on Thursday in a statement by INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye amidst the running battle between Senate President Ahmad Lawan and his kinsman, Bashir Machina over who should be the authentic APC candidate for the position.

Naija News reports the latest INEC statement comes as a reaction to a counter affidavit filed in the Federal High in Damaturu, Yobe State regarding the Yobe North Senatorial Seat involving the APC.

The statement however said without prejudice to the ongoing court case, INEC would stand by the report of its monitoring team on which basis it didn’t publish any APC candidate’s name for the Yobe North seat.

It added that while the final court judgement on the matter is still been awaited, “the commission will review its quality assurance protocols including the preview by appropriate ranking officials of all processes filed on its behalf to ascertain their correctness in all material particulars with all reports and all information at its disposal before their presentation so that a situation like this is not repeated.”

The Saga

Naija News recalls trouble started after Bashir Machina who won the Yobe North APC primaries refused to step down and give the ticket to Senate President Ahmad Lawan who contested but lost out at the party’s presidential primaries.

Machina maintained that the people voted for him and not Lawan.

Lawan was amongst aspirants who contested for the APC presidential ticket but suffered defeat in the primary election where the party’s National Leader, Bola Tinubu, emerged as the flagbearer.

It is understood that Machina was the sole candidate in the Yobe North APC senatorial primaries as other aspirants who indicated interest were told not to contest to enable Machina hold the ticket for Lawan in case he loses the presidential election.

However, Machina is unwilling to let go of the ticket and has so far refused all entreaties to hand over the ticket.