Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has been listed as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Yobe North senatorial district for the 2023 general election.
The development comes 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 Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to vie for the presidential ticket of the party.
He also obtained the nomination forms for Yobe North senatorial seat but did not participate in the party’s senatorial primaries.
He paid N100 million for the presidential forms and N20 million for a return to the Senate.
The Senate President, however, failed to clinch the party’s presidential ticket, losing to former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Lawan, who had spent the last 23 years in the National Assembly, came fourth in the APC presidential primaries held on June 8 with 152 votes, while Tinubu emerged as the party’s standard bearer with 1271 votes.
APC later wrote a letter to INEC, informing the electoral body that the Senate President will be its nominee for the Yobe North senatorial seat.
Machina, however, insisted that he would not withdraw from the senatorial race since he got the votes of delegates in an unopposed election.
“I’m sure he did not plan to go back to the National Assembly. That is why he contested for the presidency and lost. This is democracy. The space is free. A certain period of time was given for people to want to contest.
“Timetables were set, guidelines were produced by the parties, and eventually elections were held,” he had said.
However, the signed list of candidates forwarded by the APC to INEC showed Lawan being listed as the party’s senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
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.
READ ALSO: APC primaries: Why I contested against Tinubu — Lawan
He further vowed not to step down for Lawan, saying he remains the Yobe North senatorial candidate.
The APC senatorial candidate, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Friday night, said: “In the list sent to INEC, my name was found to be misrepresented. I don’t know whether it was erroneous, my name was not in the list of the names that were said to be presented today to INEC.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I remain the candidate duly elected of the APC Yobe North zone C senatorial zone.
“I am the elected candidate; I did not withdraw for anybody and will not withdraw because as a matter of right that is the mandate given to me by members of our great party, the delegates. So surreptitiously removing my name, I consider, is very undemocratic, illegal, and of course inhuman.
“Insha Allah, I will take measures, first by reminding and appealing to my party that if this action is truly done, it should be corrected, especially if it is erroneously done.
“We are actually seeking for redress from the National Working Committee of our party under the able leadership of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman, that there is an anomaly and we need it to be corrected.
“I remain the candidate and it remains so. I hope our leadership will take the necessary measures. We will work hard to exploit and explore all the necessary channels as provided by our guideline.
“In the event of the contrary, as Nigerian citizens and as law-abiding citizens, the constitution of our country being the overall law above every aspect of our lives as Nigerians, I would have no choice but to resort to court action.
“This is what I intend to inform Nigerians through this medium, that an abnormality and illegality is about taking place, and it is undemocratic. This is a democratic party.
“It is always the will of the people that is supreme and the greatest justification of the will of the people is by casting their votes, as they did to elect me. This is a confidence reposed on me by the electorate in my senatorial district and this is the most minimal challenge I will face to defend their right,” Machina stated.
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