The All Progressives Congress APC Yobe North senatorial candidate, Bashir Machina has insisted that he would never step down for current senate president Ahmad Lawan.
Machina further revealed that Ahmad Lawan does not nurse the ambition to return to the senate after contesting the party’s presidential primary election.
Machina, who insisted on not giving the ticket to Lawan, stated the senator would not have contested the party’s presidential primary if he had the ambition of returning to the Senate.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Lawan contested APC’s presidential ticket and lost to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed at the primary by finishing in fourth position.
However, there are insinuations flying around that Lawan is now seeking a transfer of the senatorial ticket secured by Machina to him to return to the Senate.
Machina made this statement when he appeared on a current affairs programme on a Lagos based platform Channels TV on Wednesday evening.
Machina revealed that the matter is a mere speculation that will not see the light of the day.
“The pressure is more or less speculative. There wasn’t any clear-cut person or message directly that says I should step down but from the headquarters of my party (APC), recently I was informed that if I was still in the race, I should write formally to inform the party that I am.”
He confirmed that the letter that trended online was his response to the request from an unnamed caller from the national headquarters of the APC.
“I formally wrote a letter to the party, reiterating and affirming my position, that I am still the candidate; that I did not withdraw, and I am not withdrawing, and I’m in the race in the event that anybody is contemplating or doubting that there is any move,” he said.
When asked if the party’s leadership ask him to step down for Lawan, Machina said, he wouldn’t.
“No, I won’t step down because Ahmad Lawan did not contest for the Senate. Of course, it is a known fact that Ahmad Lawan contested for president and lost. And when I contested for Senate, Lawan did not participate (in the primary) or did not contest (for Senate). So, I don’t think that may be in any way an issue.”
Asked if he would step down if president Buhari begs him to do so, he replied that APC would not repeat the undemocratic tendencies in other parties for which the ruling party was created to end.
Machina further revealed that he’s got experience than Lawan by legislative ranking, saying that he joined the National Assembly long before Lawan.
” I was in the House of Representatives in the defunct Third Republic while Lawan joined the National Assembly in the Fourth Republic thus making me a senior to him”