Appeal Court Affirms Machina As APC Yobe North Senatorial Candidate

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Bashir Machina as the authentic senatorial candidate for Yobe North under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election.

In a judgement delivered on Monday, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen, who presided over a 3-man panel of justices, gave the affirmation in an appeal filed by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.

Mr. Lawan was challenging the decision of Justice Fadimatu Aminu of the Federal High Court, Damaturu, which had on September 28, 2022, declared Machina as winner of the primary election organized by the APC in May 2022, while Lawan opted to contest the presidential primary election organized by the APC in June.
Lawan lost the APC presidential ticket to former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu.
However, Machina was asked to step down for Lawan but he insisted that he would not withdraw for the Senate President.
Meanwhile in the face of the controversy, the APC submitted the Senate President’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
Dissatisfied with the development, Machina headed to court to seek redress.
Machina was specifically asking the court to declare him as the validly elected senatorial candidate of the APC for the 2023 election.
The Appeal Court held that the primary election that was conducted by the APC on June 9 was invalid, as it was not monitored by the INEC, which is a gross violation of the Electoral Act.
The Appellate Court also ordered the APC to pay One Million Naira (N1,000,000) as cost to the 1st respondent, Bashir Sherif.
It would be recalled that Justice Fadimatu Aminu had nullified the parallel primary election that produced Senator Ahmed Lawan on June 9, 2022.
The trial judge had earlier ordered the APC to forward the name of Machina to the INEC as the authentic winner of the primary held in May.