Supreme Court, in a split judgement on Monday, restored the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, as the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Yobe North Senatorial election.
The apex court, in a three-to-two decision by a five-member panel, nullified the concurrent judgements of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognize Bashir Sheriff Machina as the flag-bearer of the APC for the senatorial contest.
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It will be recalled that while Lawan picked the presidential form of the APC and participated in the primary election that was eventually won by Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, on the other hand, Machina, vied and won his bid to takeover as candidate of the party for the senatorial seat.
However, following his defeat at the presidential primary, Lawan, urged Machina to relinquish the senatorial ticket to him, a request the latter blatantly refused.
In the face of the controversy, the APC submitted Lawan’s name to INEC as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
Miffed by the development, Machina took the case before the Federal High Court and obtained a favourable judgement that recognized him as the valid candidate of the party for the election.
Even though Lawan declared that he had accepted the judgement in good faith, the APC, however, took the matter before the appellate court.
The party insisted that Lawan was the candidate it chose to sponsor at the election, even as it urged the appellate court to set aside the high court judgement.
Meanwhile, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices, the appellate court dismissed the appeal and upheld the trial court’s decision in the matter.
The appellate court noted that whereas APC, in the appeal, made a case for Lawan, it however failed to join him as a co-appellant in the matter but rather cited him as the 2nd Respondent.
It held that the action of the party indicated that it worked at cross purpose with Lawan while trying to achieve a goal.
The appellate court held that the primary election that produced Machina was validly conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, and also monitored by INEC.
It, therefore, dismissed APC’s appeal with a cost of N1milliion.
Dissatisfied with the judgement of that appellate court, the APC filed an appeal at the Supreme Court to set it aside.
In its judgement on Monday, whereas three members of the apex court panel, in their majority decision, upheld the appeal, two other Justices on the panel, in their dissenting verdict, dismissed the appeal for want of merit.
Head of the panel, Justice Centus Nweze, who read the lead majority judgement, stressed that the trial court ought to have declined jurisdiction to entertain Machina’s suit.
He held that the suit was not properly commenced, noting that since it contained allegatons of electoral fraud that needed to be proved, Machina, ought to have filed it as Writ of Summons to enable witnesses to testify in the matter.
According to the majority judgement of the apex court, Machina’s failure to properly commence the action, rendered it incompetent and stripped the trial court of the requisite jurisdiction.
While disagreeing with their colleagues, Justice Adamu Jauro and Emmanuel Agim, held that both APC and Lawan did not deny any of the issues that Machina raised in his suit so as to render it contentious.
The duo, in their minority verdict, held that there was sufficient evidence to establish that Lawan validly withdrew from the senatorial race to enable him to participate in the APC presidential primary election.
They further noted that the APC did not controvert the evidence that Lawan had in a letter dated May 12, 2022, voluntarily withdrew from the senatorial primary election that held on May 28, 2022, so as to advance his presidential ambition.
They held that Machina, having emerged from the said primary election, it was wrong for the APC to organise another primary election after Lawan lost his presidential bid.
The two Justices held that by conducting a fresh primary poll without firstly cancelling the outcome of the initial poll that was won by Machina, the APC, acted in breach of section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
It was their position that the later primary poll the APC held on June 9, 2022, was a nullity as it was not monitored by INEC as required by the law.
Besides, Justice Jauro held that Lawan, having participated in the presidential primary election of the party, lacked the legal right to also participate in the senatorial primary election.
He held that the appeal the APC lodged to void Machina’s nomination as its candidate for the senatorial election, was grossly devoid of merit.
Consequently, he affirmed the earlier judgement of the appellate court and awarded a cost of N10millon against the APC.
Meantime, while reacting to the judgement that restored him as the senatorial candidate of the APC, the Senate President, Lawan, described it as a victory for democracy.
Though he admitted that he did not lodge the appeal against Machina, Lawan, said the judgement in his favour would further strengthen democracy in the country
He thanked the APC for lodging the appeal, insisting that the Senate under his leadership has been very proactive and productive.
He boasted that the APC would record landslide victory in both the forthcoming presidential election and the senatorial contest in Yobe North.
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