The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has said Bashir Machina is the duly elected candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe-North senatorial district.
The electoral body distanced itself from the purported primary election, which allegedly produced Ahmad Lawan as the APC senatorial candidate for Yobe-North.
The position of the electoral umpire was contained in a legally admissible Certified True Copy of the INEC report for the primary election.
The rightful candidate of the senatorial district became a contentious issue after both Lawan and Machina began laying claim to the seat.
The Certified True Copy of the report of the INEC team sent to monitor the primary election, signed by Omale Samuel, dated May 28, 2022, reportedly showed that Machina polled 289 votes out of 300 delegates at the exercise.
Also, another report from the Yobe State office of INEC on the conduct of Yobe-North senatorial primary election (Zone ‘C’) shows that the exercise was held at the Government House in Gashua, the headquarters of Bade local government area of the State.
Zone ‘C’ senatorial district comprises Bade, Yusufari, Jakusko, Nguru, Karasuwa, and Machina local government areas.
The report noted that the primaries started by 11:30 am as scheduled, adding that security agents and respective electoral officers of the affected local governments were all present at the venue.
Lawan contested for the APC presidential ticket and lost to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier in June.
The national leadership of APC has, however, forwarded Lawan’s name to INEC for recognition as the candidate of the party for the Yobe North election in 2023, a development that has sparked outrage on social media.
