Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja
The Supreme Court yesterday, affirmed Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as the All-Progressive Congress Candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District after lower courts upheld Bashir Machina as the substantive candidate of the All-Progressive Congress.

It will be noted that Lawan, who did not participate in the election initially due to his contest for the APC presidential ticket, wanted Machina to cede the ticket to him after losing the presidential primary to Bola Tinubu.

But Machina refused and the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal upheld his candidacy.
But the APC submitted Lawan’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insisting he was their candidate.

Passing its judgment yesterday, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Centus Nweze held that it was constitutionally wrong for lower courts to determine Machina’s application having filed it by originating summons.

The court held that the summon contained allegations of fraud which lawfully requires the provision of witnesses, examination, and cross-examination.

“The bedrock of the suit shows that there were allegations of fraudulent practices against the appellants.
“That the 1st respondent accused the APC of fraudulently substituting his name with that of Lawan.

“Where there is an allegation of fraud it should not be commenced by an originating summons. There was a need to call witnesses to prove allegations of fraud,” the panel held agreeing with the APC that Machina did not properly file his case.

Meanwhile, the President of the Senate, Lawan, has commended the Supreme Court for its judgment affirming him as the validly nominated candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) for the Yobe North Senatorial District.
Recall that Lawan has been having a running battle with Bashir Machina over who is the rightful candidate for the party in Yobe North in the forthcoming February 25 National Assembly election.

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Reacting to the Supreme Court split judgment of three to two justices, yesterday, which declared him as the candidate of the APC, Lawan said that what happened was democracy at work.

The majority decision was delivered by Justice Centus Nweze, after setting aside both the decisions of the Court of Appeal and trial court which earlier affirmed Bashir Machina as the candidate.

Speaking with newsmen after the victory at the Supreme Court, Lawan hailed the leadership of the APC for taking it upon itself to approach the Supreme Court after the judgment of the Appeal Court which recognised Machina as the APC candidate.

Thanking God for the victory, Lawan said: “Let me start by thanking God for his blessing and for what had happened today in the Supreme Court. The judgment on Yobe North particularly is a victory for APC in Yobe and generally APC across the country.

“What happened was democracy at work and the courts gave their various judgments and of course, the Supreme Court gave the final judgment.”

Lawan hailed the Supreme Court and the judiciary generally for making this kind of Judgment to strengthen the nation’s democracy. However, the Yobe chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has set up a reconciliation committee to reach out to Hon Bashir Machin and his supporters.

The constitution of the committee is coming a few hours after the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment in Abuja, which affirms Senate President Lawan as the authentic candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial seat for the APC.
Yobe APC chairman, Mohammed Gadaka, who is popularly known as Bill Gate told The Nation in an exclusive interview that reconciliation is the immediate measure that the party will have to adopt at this moment instead of going about celebrating victory.

Gadaka noted the decision of the Supreme Court is a victory for the party and not against any individual, stressing that the party will work very hard to deliver victory at the polls come February 25, 2023.

“Today’s judgment is in-house so we cannot be celebrating for having victory over one of our own. What has happened is within the Yobe State APC house.

We are doing this for the interest of the party and not for an individual. When you have a good candidate like Ahmad Lawan, you will be sure that you are going to win the election and that is what party is all about and that is what Yobe APC stands for,” Gadaka said.

He said the Deputy chairman of the party, Alhaji Mohammed Ala-Mai will chair the reconciliation committee while the Political Adviser to Governor Mai Mala Buni, Alhaji Aji Bularafa will serve as the Secretary of the Committee. APC Yobe Secretary, Abubakar Bakabe from Zone C will also serve as a member of the committee.
Meanwhile, efforts to speak with Hon. Bashir Machina failed. He did not pick up calls or respond to text messages.

His spokesperson Hussaini Mohammed Isa also did not pick up calls put across to him.