The All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission have been instructed to recognize Bashir Machina as the party’s candidate for the Senate seat representing Yobe North by the Federal High Court in Damaturu.
On June 9, 2022, Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, the presiding judge, annulled the parallel primary election that resulted in Ahmed Lawan becoming the Senate President.
The judge further mandated that Machina’s name be forwarded to INEC as the legitimate winner of the May primary.
After Machina dissociated himself from the notice of withdrawal from the race, which has since gone viral, the verdict was handed down a few weeks later.
A copy of the notice included a letter that Machina is said to have sent to the party’s national chairman announcing his withdrawal from the race for the senator from Yobe North.
According to reports, INEC declined to recognize Lawan and Senator Godswill Akpabio as APC senatorial candidates.
Lawan and Akpabio have both run for president of the APC. The APC had listed both of them as senatorial candidates after they had lost, but INEC would not accept them.
