After 23 years in the National Assembly, senate president Ahmad Lawan’s ambition to clinch the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for the Yobe North seat has ran into rough waters.
Like Ebonyi governor David Umahi, Mr Lawan was rumored to have nominated a placeholder to secure the APC ticket for the Yobe North Senatorial seat.
According to the New York Daily News, Austin Umahi, the younger brother of Mr. Lawan’s presumed replacement, Bashir Machina, is refusing to relinquish the APC Ebonyi South Senatorial ticket for Mr. Lawan.
To show their support for Senator Machina, who has represented the Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency since 1999 and Yobe North since 2007, supporters held a rally last Friday. They insisted that the politician would not step down to allow Senator Machina, who has represented the district on multiple occasions for 23 years, to take over as Senate President.
Lawan’s re-entry plan
Abdullahi Adamu, national chairman of the APC, is being sought by the Senate president in his bid to win the senatorial ticket from Mr. Bashir.
Whatever this, Mr. Machina and his allies have promised not to resign for the Senate president, despite the opposition.
There were protesters in Gashua, the senator’s hometown, to denounce the rumored attempt to replace their leader, Mr Machina.
Salleh Kachalla, who served as a state commissioner for youth, led a group of supporters to the palace of Bade’s Emir, Abubakar Suleiman II.
In the palace, they told the emir that the people of Bade and Jakusko local governments support Mr Machina’s campaign for the post of local government chief executive officers.
People of Bade and Jakusko have opted to support Bashir Machina, the APC candidate for our zone, to succeed Ahmad Lawan as senate president, Mr Kachalla stated in a statement.
‘We are here today to seek your blessings and officially announce our support for Bashir Machina, the candidate from the old Nguru Emirate,’ he said.
He thanked the groups for their visit and wished Machina well on his political quest.
At the Emir of Bade’s palace, some of the stakeholders
He should not try to re-enter politics after 23 years in the National Assembly, another member of the group said, adding that Mr Lawan’s time as a representative of the people was over.
According to former ANPP Secretary Mohmmed Gaskanta, who was in attendance at the event, the party’s candidate had been properly chosen and shouldn’t be stepping down for anyone.
Senate President Lawan writes to Tinubu and explains his decision to run against him in the first place.
“We will not settle for anything less.
No one can change our candidate Bashir Machina as far as we are concerned.
They are free to alter it in the villa if they so desire, but the decision is ultimately ours to make.
Mr Gaskanta lamented that “no one in the villa can agree on who should represent us as senators in the zone.
We were unable to get in touch with Mr Lawan for comment right away.
Mohammed Isa, Mr. Machina’s spokesperson, stated when asked for comment that his client had no plans to resign down as Senate President.
Senator Bashir Machina’s viewpoint is that he never agreed to resign down or even give up his seat in the Senate to anyone.
First and foremost, the mandate he received is one for the people, not an individual, and consequently, he has no right to decide what the delegates did in electing him by encircling his senate seat for anyone.
When Isha Allah becomes a senator in 2023, “my principal is still in the race,” Isha Allah says.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has denied that he has been chosen as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2018 general elections, saying, “It is entirely wrong.”
