The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed February 6th to deliver judgment in the long-drawn legal battle over the authenticity of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North Senatorial District.
Entangled in the legal battle for the Senatorial ticket are the incumbent Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and Bashir Machina.
The Apex Court fixed the date after taking arguments from counsel for APC and Machina.
Justice Centus Nweze who presided over a five-member panel of Justices of the Court fixed the date.
APC which is routing for Lawan as its Senatorial candidate filed the appeal against the judgments of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal which held Bashir Machina as the party’s candidate.
In its arguments presented by Sepiribo Peters, APC claimed that the primary election conducted on May 27, 2022, which produced Machina, is unknown to law because unlawful people conducted it.
He claimed that another primary election conducted on June 6 which produced Lawan is the authentic election of the party.
However, Mr Sarafa Yusuff, counsel to Machina asked the Apex Court to dismiss the APC’S appeal for being frivolous and baseless.
He informed the court that Danjuma Manga Committee was set up by the APC to conduct the primary election on behalf of the National Working Committee of APC.
Yusuff drew the court’s attention to an affidavit deposed to by Danjuma Manga to the effect that he was mandated along with five others by the APC National Secretariat to conduct the Senatorial primary elections in Yobe.
The counsel argued that until now, the affidavit of the said Danjuma Manga had not been disputed or denied by the APC and subsequently urged the court to affirm Bashir Sheriff Machina as the authentic Senatorial candidate of APC for Yobe North Senatorial District.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed Machina as the authentic candidate of the APC for Yobe North Senatorial District.
The court upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu, Yobe, which held that Lawan was not the APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2023 elections.
Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen, who presided over a three-man panel, gave the affirmation in an appeal by Lawan, challenging the decision of Justice Fadimatu Aminu of the Federal High Court Damaturu, which had on Sept. 28, 2022, declared Machina as the winner of the primary election organised by the APC in May 2022, while Lawan opted to contest the presidential primary election organised by the APC on June 9.
The Federal High Court sitting in Damaturu had in September ordered the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise Machina as Yobe North senatorial candidate of the party.
