By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Independent National Electoral Commission (EFCC) has certified Bashir Machina as the winner of the Yobe North Senatorial District primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
365Daily recalls that Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who currently represents the district, ran for the 2023 presidential ticket of the APC, with the backing of the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, lost to former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
*Machina
Sequel to the loss, Sen. Lawan, who was the APC Chairman’s colleague in the Senate, started working to get the ticket to return to the National Assembly where he has been since 2003.
Adamu has vehemently rejected Machina as the winner of the primary, listing Sen. Lawan instead as the candidate of the APC for Yobe North senatorial election slated for February 2023 on claims that he emerged from a secret primary.
But INEC has released a certified true copy of INEC’s report from the May 28, 2022, senatorial primary election which indicated that Mr Machina scored 289 votes out of 300 cast by delegates.
However, Mr Machina still has more hurdles to cross despite been certified winner by the electoral office, as INEC has clarified that only a party can decide which candidate it will field in an election.
It said its role is to certify that an election held.