Tobias Sylvester
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has named Bashir Machina as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District.
Bashir Machina and Ahmad Lawan From Yobe North
KanyiDaiy recalls that in May, Machina won the APC Yobe North senatorial primary unopposed, but there were speculations that he was being asked to step down for Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who currently represents the district.
Lawan has been representing Yobe North senatorial district since 2007, until he recently opted to contest for the APC presidential ticket which he lost to the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu.
Following his loss at the just concluded APC presidential primary election, Lawan has been trying to reclaim the Yobe North senatorial ticket from Machina.
Machina recently confirmed that he has been approached by some people to relinquish the ticket, but insisted that he would not withdraw for Lawan.
Amid the controversy, the APC submitted Lawan’s name to INEC as its senatorial candidate for Yobe north and warned Machina over his comments on the party’s choice of candidate.
However, on Friday, an INEC report surfaced online, in which Machina was confirmed as having won the APC senatorial primary for Yobe north after he polled 289 votes unopposed.
The position of the electoral umpire was contained in a legally admissible Certified True Copy of the INEC report for the primary election dated Thursday, 23rd June 2022.
According to the document, the primary, which was held on May 28, was monitored by INEC officials and security agents and was done via open-secret ballot.
The result of the exercise was also said to have been “generally acccepted”.
KanyiDaily recalls that before the APC presidential primary election, Northern Governors had rejected the adoption of Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.
