Abuja – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that Senate President Ahmad Lawan will not be returning to the Upper Chamber in 2023.
This follows Friday’s confirmation by the INEC’s that Bashir Machina is the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary ticket for the Yobe North Senatorial District.
The INEC in a certified true copy of its report on the May 28, 2022, Senatorial primary election for the district, said Machina scored 289 votes out of 300 delegates to emerge winner of the primary election.
The report thus confirmed Machina as the authentic winner of the primary and legal candidate candidate for the APC in the 2023 elections.
The document which was certified by the electoral office on June 23, 2022, did not mention Senate President Ahmad Lawan as a participant in the primary not to talk of being the winner of the primary.
Controversy ensued on who is the authentic candidate of the party when the national Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu forwarded the name of Lawan to INEC as the party’s candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District in the coming 2023 elections instead of Machina, the winner and legal candidate of the party.
Adamu had claimed that the party secretly conducted another primary from which Lawan emerged candidate.
Although, Machina has been certified the winner by the electoral office, he will still need to put additional fights pending the time INEC post candidates standing for election across different political parties in the coming weeks.
The Senate President started making efforts to seize the ticket from Machina after losing at the ruling party’s presidential primsry, which was won overwhelmingly by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on June 8. (vitalnewsngr.com)
