The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that its candidates remained barred from the 2023 Yobe North senatorial election until further notice.
INEC stated this in reaction to an affidavit filed by the APC to counter Bashir Machina’s suit against the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who is laying claim to the party’s ticket for the election.
Lawan and Machina have been at loggerheads over who is APC’s rightful candidate for the Yobe North senatorial election, resulting in the latter’s suit filed before the Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State.
Machina had been declared as the winner of APC’s primary election for the senatorial district, but the party submitted Lawan’s name to INEC as its candidate for the poll.
On its part, INEC had explained that if a political party submits the name of a candidate that did not emerge from valid party primaries, “the commission is not obligated to publish the name of such a candidate”.
