Supreme Court declares Senate President, Lawal APC candidate for Yobe North

The All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Yobe north, Ahmed Lawan, was upheld by the supreme court.

Bashir Machina’s nomination as the APC’s candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District was contested in court by the party.

The party insisted that the legitimate senatorial candidate for Yobe North in the upcoming general election was Ahmad Lawan, the president of the Nigerian Senate.

At the most recent hearing of the appeal, the party’s attorney, Sepiribo Peters, argued that the primary election, which took place on May 28, 2018, and produced Machina, violated the Electoral Act 2022.

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Peters argued that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party did not nominate one Danjuma Manga to conduct the aforementioned primary election.

He testified before the court that the APC called off the primary election due to irregularities that were noticed during the process.

He claimed that the APC NWC conducted the other primary on June 9 and selected Lawan as the legitimate candidate for the party.

Sarafa Yusuf, Machina’s attorney, requested that the Supreme Court reject the appeal because it lacked merit on the grounds that the Senate President had not opposed the lawsuits in both the trial and lower courts.

Additionally, he noted that Manga, who oversaw the primary election in which Machina triumphed, was a member of the committee established by the NWC to oversee the process.

The APC had petitioned the Court of Appeal in Abuja to overturn the decision of the lower court designating Machina as the party’s candidate for Yobe North, but Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, the panel’s president, ruled that the appeal was an abuse of the legal system.

However, the Supreme Court accepted the APC’s appeal against Bashir Machina’s candidacy in a majority decision issued on Monday.

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Lawan was recognized by the Supreme Court as the APC’s legitimate candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District.