The national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has said Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, participated in the Yobe North senatorial primaries.

Adamu said this while speaking to State House correspondents after he led a few APC governors governors to present the Ekiti State governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji, to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

The Star had reported that Lawan was listed as the APC candidate for Yobe North senatorial district for the 2023 general election.

The development came amidst the refusal of Bashir Machina, who won the APC primaries for the senatorial district, to step down for Lawan.

Lawan had obtained the APC nomination forms to vie for the presidential ticket of the party.

He also obtained the nomination forms for senatorial seat.

The Senate President, however, failed to clinch the party’s presidential ticket, losing to former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Lawan came fourth in the APC presidential primaries held on June 8 with 152 votes, while Tinubu emerged as the party’s standard bearer with 1,271 votes.

Machina, however, insisted that he would not withdraw from the senatorial race since he got the votes of delegates in an unopposed election.

The signed list of candidates forwarded by the APC to INEC showed Lawan being listed as the party’s senatorial candidate for Yobe North.

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The name of the Senate President was also uploaded on INEC’s server by the ruling party alongside other senatorial candidates across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.

In his reaction, Machina vowed to seek legal redress over the attempt to steal his mandate.

He further vowed never to step down for Lawan, saying he remains the Yobe North senatorial candidate.

However, Adamu, while speaking on Monday, said Lawan participated in the party’s senatorial primaries.

The APC chairman, when asked how Lawan emerged as the party’s senatorial candidate, said: “Don’t get yourself in the court of law. Is it that you were told of they are saying it?

“I don’t have time for negativities. I don’t just have time for that. If you face me with positives, I have time for all of that. I will stand here and answer all of your questions.

“I cannot respond to every speculation, particularly when they are negative, especially when they are by mischief makers.

“Is there any law that says when you contest an election and lost, you shouldn’t contest another one?

“Go and find out from the person who is responsible for organising the primaries. I have done my bit. I do know, in my honour, that he did participate within the timeline,” Adamu stated.

The Star