Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Deputy Campaign Coordinator for Bashir Machina Campaign Organisation, Nura Audu, has described the Supreme Court judgement which recognised the president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, as the authentic All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Yobe North as devastating to anyone committed to justice and fairness.
Audu said the judgment was unprecedented and unfortunate in the political history of Nigeria.
Speaking with The PUNCH, he said: “The Supreme Court judgement was a daylight robbery, and very unfortunate in the political history of Nigeria.
“Tension is high now. Ahmad Lawan neither obtained and filled the Senatorial aspiration form nor contested in the primaries.”
Asked about the next line of action, August said: “As Muslims, we believe in destiny; we will wait for what our leader would say before knowing what to do.”
Audu, who noted that he was in court when the judgment was delivered, said in spite the court judgement, Machina’s supporters will not forsake him.
Lawan hails judgement
The president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has hailed the judgement of the apex court, and described the verdict as a victory for democracy.
Lawan, while speaking to journalists at the Senate Guest House in Maitama, Abuja, praised the APC leadership for taking it upon itself to approach the Supreme Court following the Court of Appeal’s decision recognising Bashir Machina as the party’s senatorial candidate.
“Let me begin by thanking God for his blessing and, of course, for what happened today at the Supreme Court on the judgement on Yobe North. This is a significant victory for the APC in Yobe and the APC in general across the country,” he said.
Lawan, in a post on his social media pages, also thanked his political party for fighting tooth and nail for his victory.
Delivering judgement, three out of a five-member panel agreed with the APC that the suit at the trial court ought not to have commenced via an originating summons since it contained allegations of fraud.
In the lead judgement, Justice Centus Nweze, faulted Machina’s approach, commencing the suit by way of originating summons, without adducing any oral evidence to prove allegations of fraud raised.
“That the first respondent accused the APC of fraudulently substituting his name with that of Lawan. Where there is an allegation of fraud it should not be commenced by an originating summons. There was a need to call witnesses to prove allegations of fraud,” Nweze said.
In its majority decision, the apex court also set aside the decision of the Appeal Court, Gombe Division, which affirmed the decision of the trial court that declared Machina the senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
But in a dissenting decision by Justices Emmanuel Agim and Adamu Jauro, the apex court said Lawan never participated in the APC primary, as he withdrew voluntarily to participate in the presidential primary held on June 8, 2022.
