After his unsuccessful bid to be elected as the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan’s bid to secure the party’s senatorial bid for the Yobe North constituency has hit rough waters.
Mr. Lawan, like Ebonyi Governor David Umahi, who also competed in the APC presidential primary, was rumored to have nominated a placeholder to secure the APC ticket for the Yobe North senatorial seat.
However, unlike Mr. Umahi, who had no trouble replacing his younger brother Austin, whom he had chosen as his placeholder for the APC Ebonyi South senatorial bid, Mr. Lawan is having trouble getting that Bashir Machina, his supposed placeholder, resign. the ticket for him.
Last Friday, Machina’s supporters staged a solidarity rally in which they insisted that the politician will not step down as president of the Senate, who has repeatedly represented the constituency for 23 years; first as a member of the House of Representatives from the Bade/Jakusko Federal Electoral District from 1999 to 2007, and as a Senator from the Yobe North District from 2007 to the present.
Lawan’s plot to return
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Senate president was seeking the help of CPA national chairman Abdullahi Adamu in his quest to reclaim Mr. Bashir’s senatorial ticket.
However, the measure is meeting strong resistance and Machina and his supporters have vowed not to give up the presidency of the Senate.
Machina’s supporters gathered in Gashua, the Senate president’s hometown, to reject the rumored plan to replace their director.
Machina supporters, led by a former state youth commissioner, Salleh Kachalla, also visited the palace of Bade emir Abubakar Suleiman II.
At the palace, the emir was told that people from the Bade and Jakusko local governments support Machina’s candidacy.
“We, the people of Bade and Jakusko, have decided to support the candidacy of Bashir Machina, who was duly chosen as the APC candidate for our area to replace Senate President Ahmad Lawan, said Mr. Kachalla.
“Today we are at your Palace specifically to seek your blessings and formally inform you of our determination to support the candidacy of Bashir Machina, who is from the former Nguru Emirate,” he added.
The Emir of Bade, Abubakar Umar Suleiman, thanked the groups for visiting him and wished Mr. Machina all the best on his political journey.
Another speaker from the group, Nura Dalhatu Gashua, said that after spending 23 years in the National Assembly, Lawan’s time as a people’s representative was over and he should not be planning a backdoor comeback.
Former secretary of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mohmmed Gaskanta, who attended the rally, said Machina was duly chosen as the party’s candidate and should not resign for anyone.
“We cannot accept anything less. As far as we are concerned, we have our candidate Bashir Machina and no one can change him. They can change it in the village if they want, but we are the people who cast our votes here. The people of the village cannot decide who is our senator in the area,” said Gaskanta.
Lawan could not be immediately reached for comment.
Reached for comment, Mohammed Isa, Machina’s spokesman, said his director did not plan to step down as Senate president.
“Mr. Bashir Machina’s position is that, first of all, he had no agreement with anyone to resign, let alone give the senatorial seat to anyone.
“Secondly, the mandate he obtained is for the people and not by or for an individual, therefore he has no right to make any decision about what the delegates did in electing him by surrounding his senatorial seat for anyone.
“My director is still in the running and Isha Allah will be elected as a senator to represent his people in 2023.”
“It is totally false, he emerged as the Party’s candidate and will be the standard-bearer for APC in the next general election,” Isa said.