Appeal Court Affirms Machina as APC Senatorial Candidate In Yobe North

The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has affirmed Bashir Sheriff Machina as the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2023 election.

The appellate court on Monday upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe State, which held that the President of the senate Ahmad Lawan, is not the APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District in next year’s election into the National Assembly.

The lower court had on September 28, 2022, held that Mr. Lawan did not participate in the legally recognised primary election of the APC held on 28th May 2022, to select its candidate in the election.

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The presiding high court judge, Justice Fadima Aminu, nullified the parallel primary election that produced Lawan on June 9, 2022, and ordered the APC to forward the name of Machina to INEC as the authentic winner of the primary held in May.

Delivering judgment on the appeal filed by the President of the Senate, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, ruled that the primary election conducted by the party on 9th June is invalid as it was in breach of the constitution.

The law is settled as to the involvement of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in party primaries, which is to monitor. The primaries of 9th June were not monitored by the electoral commission.

The APC made a case at the appellate court for itself and it preferred candidate Ahmed Lawan but failed to make him a co-appellant.

Mr Lawan appeared in the case as the 2nd respondent indicating that he and the APC were working at cross purposes while trying to achieve a goal.

The appeal is unmeritorious as it fails in its entirety.

The appellant (APC) is to pay the sum of N1 million to the 1st respondent (Bashir Sheriff) as cost.