Bashir Machina, the All Progressives Congress senatorial candidate for Yobe North, has insisted that he is still in the race and is unwilling to give up his ticket for Senate President Ahmed Lawan.
Lawan ran for the party’s presidential nomination but was defeated by Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos governor and party national leader.
Meanwhile, in Lawan’s absence, Machina won the party’s primaries for Yobe North. Following his failed bid for the APC presidential ticket, Lawan hoped Machina would relinquish the ticket to him, but Machina has insisted that he will not step down for Lawan.
During an interview on Wednesday, Machina stated that Lawan would not run for the senatorial seat, while expressing confidence that the party’s leaders, whom he described as law-abiding, would not want to violate the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
He believes Lawan will not return to the Senate after his current term expires in 2023.
“He (Lawan) didn’t believe and I’m sure he didn’t plan to go back to the National Assembly; that’s why he contested for President and lost,” he said.
“No, Ahmad Lawan did not contest for the Senate, of course, it’s a known fact that he contested for president and lost and when I contested for the senatorial ticket, Senator Ahmad Lawan did not participate or contest so I don’t think that may be in any way an issue.
“The motto of APC is justice and peace and then, of course, this is a party that’s being led by responsible law-abiding citizens, so being law-abiding, you think that it will be part of the law or it will be considered as justice for you to say well, somebody had a mandate from the people who elected him and then you change him suddenly overnight. No, I’m sure my party will not just do that, I’m confident my leaders are very fair and just, going by the motto of the party – justice and peace,” he said.
Machina also stated that it would be incorrect for party leaders to replace his name with Lawan’s in the list to be submitted to the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said, “I won’t say my name is serendipitously replaced or whatever, you know the electoral act is very clear. Somebody, I don’t think in this era, will just sit down and remove someone’s name and replace another person’s name, especially somebody that didn’t undergo the process of that primary election. Somebody that didn’t contest an election, naturally can’t be in that election that’s covered by the law and the Electoral Act.”
Speaking on who might be behind the speculations that he had stepped down, Machina noted, “Maybe some power play.”
He continued, “It’s a reality that we just finished the presidential primaries, that is, we finished all the primaries from top to bottom.
“Maybe some politicians who are not prepared to contest for certain elections got themselves contesting the elections, thinking that somehow, somewhere they will come across some luck to pick the ticket. People who are not actually fit enough to contest certain offices went about and then maybe eventually they are contemplating that they should get back to their actual level, maybe so.”
He emphasized that he was not a consensus candidate, but was declared the winner of the primary election after competing against others.
Machina received 289 votes out of 300 cast by delegates from six local government areas.
Machina also stated that he did not fill out the withdrawal form required of all APC aspirants because he was not in the running to withdraw.
