The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally complied with the court judgment which declared Sheriff Bashir Machina as its duly elected senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
The party filed his name as its candidate for the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election.
In a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the party dropped the name of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, earlier submitted as its candidate for the district.
Machina approached a Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State to the replacement of his name with that of the Senate President by the party.
Last month, Justice Fadima Aminu ruled that Machina was the duly and validly elected Yobe North senatorial candidate for APC and not Lawan whose name was initially submitted.
The electoral body also rejected Lawan’s name on the ground that the Senate President did not in the party primary that produced the candidate.
A letter addressed to INEC and jointly signed by the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and the Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, notified the electoral body that it had since accorded Machina recognition as its candidate in deference to Court judgment.
The letter reads: “We write to notify the commission of the attached judgment dated September 28, 2022, and order dated October 5, 2022, from the Federal High Court, Damaturu Judicial Division, directing the commission to accept and recognise Machina as the party’s candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District, Yobe State, and publish same accordingly.”
Many observers had expected that the All Progressives Congress will appeal the judgment which has denied the President of the 9th Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, of the opportunity of returning to the National Assembly for the first time since 1999.
The party had indicated its readiness to Appeal the Federal High Court judgment recognising Bashir Machina as the Yobe North Senatorial District Candidate.
He had been in a running battle with the President of the Senate and his party in Yobe State over the attempt to withdraw the ticket from him and hand it over to Senator Lawan after a fresh primary which was won by Senator Ahmad Lawan.
