The political maneuver of the Nigerian Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan to secure senatorial ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Yobe North constituency in Yobe State, after losing bid to run for presidential race under the banner of the party is now on shaky note.
Penpushing reports that, the federal lawmaker ran into trouble waters following the rumoured refusal of the nominated a placeholder to secure the All Progressives Congress(APC) ticket for the Yobe North Senatorial seat to step down.
The political source revealed that Lawan is now facing challenges of encouraging and persuading the placeholder, identified as Machina to relinquish the ticket for him, just as some of Machina loyalists,last Friday organised a solidarity rally encouraging him not to step down.
Penpushing further reports that, they argued that, Lawan had repeatedly represented the constituency for 23 years; first as the member of the House of Representatives for Bade/Jakusko Federal Constituency between 1999- 2007, and the senator for the Yobe North district from 2007 to date.
The party source disclosed that, as at the time of filing this report, the Senate President has been running from pillar to post in securing the intervention and assistance of the National Chairman of the party in his frantic bid to claim the senatorial ticket from Machina.
Penpushing also reports that, the source explained that, Lawan’s move towards claiming the senatorial ticket,as at the time of this report, met stiff resistance, as Machina and his supporters vowed not to step down for the senate president.
The supporters of Machina in their hundreds led by a former commissioner for youth in the state, Salleh Kachalla gathered in Gashua, the hometown of the senate president to reject the rumoured plan to replace their principal.
Penpushing reports that, the supporters in similar vein took time to visit the palace of the Emir of Bade, Abubakar Suleiman II, where they declared to the monarch that the people of Bade and Jakusko local governments are in support of Machina’s candidacy.
“We the people of Bade and Jakusko have decided to throw our weight behind the candidature of Bashir Machina who was duly elected as the APC candidate for our zone to take over from the senate president Ahmad Lawan. We are in your Palace today specifically to seek your blessings and formally inform you of our resolve to support the candidature of Bashir Machina.
Penpushing further reports that, as at the time of filing this report, efforts to reach the Senate President proved abortive, but the spokesman of Machina, Mohammed Isa in reaction to the development declared that his boss was not stepping down, because there was no agreement of such
‘The position of Mr Bashir Machina is that, in the first place, he did not have any agreement with anybody to step down, let alone concede the senatorial seat to anyone. Secondly, the mandate he got is for the people and not by or for an individual therefore, he has no right to take any decision about what the delegates did in electing him by surrounding his senatorial seat for anybody’.
‘My principal is still in the race and Isha Allah will be elected as a senator to represent his people come 2023. It is totally untrue, he emerged as the Party’s candidate and will stand as APC’s flag-bearer in the upcoming general elections’, Isa added
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