The bid by Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, to return to the Senate, Wednesday, was denied by the Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State.
The court ordered the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accord Bashir Machina recognition as the party’s senatorial candidate for the Yobe North district.
Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, who presided over the matter, set aside the parallel primary election of June 9, 2022, on which the senate president was standing to lay claim to the candidacy.
Specifically, the court ruled that the APC should take every necessary step to inform INEC that Machina is its candidate for the Yobe North senatorial district having won the party’s primary conducted in May.
Previously, Machina strongly denied being a placeholder for Ahmed, who was in the race for the party’s presidential ticket at that time.
Ahmed is among notable stalwarts of the APC who exploring ways of returning to power through other elective positions after failing at the party’s presidential primaries.
Others include the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr Dave Umahi,
Their ambitions have become the subject of testing the efficacy of the laws as other party members have also been showing ambition to taste political power.
While Lawan was jostling for the senatorial ticket for Yobe North, Akpabio was fighting for Akwa Ibom Northwest and Umahi contending for Ebonyi South senatorial district tickets of the ruling party, respectively.