APC Yobe North: Lawan Wins, As Supreme Court Reaches a dissenting Judgment
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Nigeria overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal Abuja Division, which had on November 28, 2022, affirmed Bashir Sherrif Machina as the legitimate APC senatorial candidate for Yobe North in the upcoming general elections, by a lead majority decision of three Justices against two.
Justice Centus Nweze delivered the lead majority decision.
Justices Adamu Jauro and Emma Agim, who dissented from the lead ruling, issued a dissenting opinion in which they dismissed APC’s appeal and upheld the concurrent factual findings of the trial and appellate courts.
Remember that the APC (appellant) appealed Justice Fadimatu Aminu of the Federal High Court Damaturu’s decision declaring Bashir Sherriff Machina the winner of the party’s primary election held on May 28, 2022. Dongban-Mensen, who presided over a three-person panel of the appellate court, gave the affirmation in the appeal.
The APC chose to replace Machina with Senate President Ahmed Lawan after Machina lost the party’s presidential primary to Bola Tinubu. Machina, though, emphasized that he would not stand down in favor of the Senate President.
In spite of the issue, the APC nominated the Senate President as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Machina went to court to seek restitution after being dissatisfied with his party’s choice.
Insisting that the National Working Committee of the APC held a legitimate primary election on May 28, which was won by Bashir Sheriff Machina, Justice Aminu declared invalid the parallel primary poll that gave rise to Lawan on June 9, 2022.
As a result, the trial court instructed the APC to notify INEC that Machina was the legitimate winner of the Yobe North primary poll.
