The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, fixed February 6 for judgment in the protracted legal tussle between the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; and Bashir Machina over who is the authentic candidate of the All Progressive Congress for Yobe North Senatorial District.
The apex court fixed the date to determine the merit of an appeal filed by the APC challenging the judgment that disqualified Lawan from contesting the forthcoming election as its candidate.
A five-man panel of justices of the apex court led by Justice Chima Nweze adjourned the appeal for judgment after taking arguments from both parties.
On November 28, 2022, Lawan lost his re-election bid following the Court of Appeal judgment in Abuja, which affirmed Machina as the authentic candidate of the APC for the senatorial election.
In a unanimous decision, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen of the appellate court dismissed the appeal APC filed in favour of Lawan, as lacking in merit.
Earlier on, the party had challenged the judgment of a
Federal High Court in Damaturu which recognised Machina as its candidate for the senatorial district.
The high court had nullified a parallel primary election the APC conducted to elect Lawan and held that the poll was invalid.
The court ordered the APC to immediately forward Machina’s name to INEC as its candidate for the election.
The appellate court also affirmed the judgment of the high court, noting that APC failed to join Lawan as a co-appellant in the appeal before it, and rather cited him as the second respondent.
It held that the action of the party showed that while trying to achieve its goal, it worked at cross purposes with Lawan and dismissed the appeal while awarding N1m cost in favour of Machina.
The PUNCH reports that after Lawan lost the primary election that produced Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the
APC, he urged Machina who vied and won as the candidate of the party for the senatorial seat to relinquish the senatorial ticket to him – a request Machina turned down.
However, in a twist of events, the APC submitted Lawan’s name to the INEC as its candidate which made an aggrieved Machina seek redress at the court.
Source: The Punch