Yobe North: Lawan speaks on Supreme Court judgement affirming him as candidate

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has described as a victory for the All Progressives Congress (APC) the Supreme Court judgement affirming him as the Yobe APC Senatorial candidate.

He stated this while briefing journalists on Monday, in Abuja, after the judgement was delivered by Centus Nweze, a justice of the court.

Mr Lawan, while thanking God for the victory, said: “Let me start by thanking God for his blessing and of course, what had happened today in the Supreme Court.

“The judgement 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 judgements and of course the supreme court gave the final judgement.

“I want to at this point, commend the supreme court and of course, the judiciary generally for making this kind of judgment to strengthen our democracy.

“This is because it is not only for politicians to work and strengthen democracy, it is all of us and all the institutions have their roles to play. So I commend them.”

He further thanked the APC for “taking this matter to the supreme court.

“So today, it is a victory for all of us involved. I am the symbol but the victory is for our party the APC and for democracy.”

Mr Lawan also thanked his colleagues in the Senate for their support, love and partnership.

He said: “I want to recommit myself that I will lead well.

“We will always be appreciative of our colleagues who gave us the mandate to lead the ninth National Assembly.

“We will be looking at 25 February when the presidential and the National Assembly elections will take place.

“By the Grace of God, Nigerians will vote APC once again. On the 25th, the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, will be voted in as president of Nigeria by the grace of God alongside Senator Kashim Shettima who is the vice presidential candidate.

“When it comes to the senatorial and House of Representatives, you know what it will be. It will be a landslide majority for the APC and the same thing for the House of Representatives.”

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed Mr Lawan, APC senatorial candidate for Yobe North.

In a majority judgement delivered by Mr Nweze, the court allowed the appeal filed by the APC against Bashir Machina’s candidature.

NAN recalled that a judge, Monica Dongban-Mensen, who presided over a three-member panel of the appellate court, gave the affirmation in an appeal by the APC challenging the decision of Fadimatu Aminu, a judge of the Federal High Court, Damaturu.

Mrs Aminu of the Federal High Court had on 28 September 2022 declared Mr Machina as the winner of the primary election organised by the party on 28 May 2022.

However, having lost the APC presidential primary to Bola Tinubu, the party opted for Mr Lawan to replace Mr Machina.

But Mr Machina insisted that he would not withdraw for the senate president.

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.

Not satisfied with the decision of his party, Mr Machina headed to court to seek redress.

Specifically, Mr Machina. in his suit, asked the court to declare him as the validly elected senatorial candidate of the APC for Yobe North Senatorial District.

Mrs Aminu had nullified the parallel primary election that produced Mr Lawan on 9 June 2022, insisting that the National Working Committee of the APC conducted a valid primary election on 28 May, which was won by Mr Machina.

Consequently, the trial judge ordered the APC to forward the name of Mr Machina to INEC as the authentic winner of the primary election for the district.