Lawan vs Machina: Supreme Court To Deliver Judgement On Yobe North Senatorial Ticket

The Supreme Court is set to deliver a judgement in the legal dispute over the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senatorial ticket for Yobe North.

Naija News reports that the ruling party is challenging the nomination of Bashir Machina as the party’s candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District.

The party is insisting that Senate President Ahmad Lawan was the authentic Senatorial candidate for Yobe North for the forthcoming general election.

Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed Machina as the standard flagbearer for the APC for the 2023 Yobe North Senatorial District election.

The appellate court, in a judgement that was delivered by a three-man panel that was led by the President of the Court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen, dismissed Lawan’s appeal as lacking in merit.

Lawan had approached the appellate court to challenge the judgement of a Federal High Court in Damaturu, which had on September 28, 2022, declared Machina as the standard bearer of the APC for the impending senatorial election.

The Senate President picked the presidential form of the APC and participated in the primary election that was won by Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, on the other hand, Machina, vied and won his bid to take over as the candidate of the party for the senatorial contest.

Following his defeat at the presidential primary, Lawan, urged Machina to relinquish the senatorial ticket to him, a request the latter blatantly refused.

However, in the face of the controversy, the APC, submitted Lawan’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North.

Machina, however, was not satisfied with the decision and proceeded to court for redress.

He specifically asked the court to declare him as the validly elected senatorial candidate of the APC for the senatorial election, a prayer that was accordingly granted.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, Lawan, who had publicly declared that he had accepted his situation in good faith, still proceeded to the appellate court, where he also lost.