After four consecutive terms of representing Yobe North senatorial district in the Senate, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, is finding it difficult to have the ticket for the fifth time. TAIYE ODEWALE reports.
Yobe North senatorial district
Yobe North which comprises Bade, Jakusko, Karasuwa, Machina, Nguru and Yusufani local government areas, is one of the 109 senatorial districts in the country, making the Senate at any complete session, to have 109 senators.
History of district’s representation
The Yobe North senatorial district based on available records, has been represented in the Senate in the current 4th Republic by two different senators at different times.
First to represent the district at the start of the 4th Republic in 1999, was Senator Usman Albishir on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 1999 to 2003.
Senator Albishir was re-elected in 2003 to represent the Senatorial District again but on the platform of the now defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
In 2007, after two terms in the House of Representatives as federal lawmaker who represented Bade/Jakusko federal constituency, Senator Ahmad Lawan won election to represent Yobe North senatorial district in the Senate on the platform of ANPP.
He won re-election for the same senatorial seat in 2011 also on the platform of ANPP and got re – elected again for the third time in 2015 on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) and emerged as Senate Leader in January 2017.
In 2019, Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan got re – elected again as Senator representing Yobe North senatorial district and in power configuration, emerged as President of the 9th Senate.
Party ticket for 2023 election and return bid for the 10th Senate
Unlike in previous pre – election years, Senator Ahmad Lawan in May this year when all the registered political parties were set for conduct of primary elections in line with provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act, went for Presidential ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), without putting in place any alternative plan in the event of failure to secure APC Presidential ticket.
Lawan’s failure to put in place alternative plan made Bashir Machina to emerge as APC senatorial candidate for Yobe North in May as the real contender for 2023 general election and not as a ‘Place Holder’.
Were Machina a place holder for the APC Yobe North senatorial ticket, he would have written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) letter of withdrawal from the 2023 National Assembly election immediately Lawan lost the APC presidential ticket on June 8, 2022.
Failed attempts to snatch or retrieve ticket from Machina
When Lawan made attempt to retrieve the APC Yobe North senatorial ticket from Machina through the highest organ of the party and not the laid down procedure of making the holder of the ticket to withdraw from the race for conduct of fresh primary, the first set of people to kick against it, was Yobe Concerned Stakeholders.
The stakeholders, led by their leader Abba Maina Yusufari in a press briefing in Damaturu on Tuesday, June 14, 2002, said: “We are here to brief the press today devoid of any sentiment but with every sense of duty for the development and unity of our political landscape, Zone C senatorial district.
“For keen observers of Yobe politics, no one is blind to the fact that our senatorial zone has enjoyed relative political peace and stability both at the House of Representative and even more at the senate with our brother, The Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan been in the saddle for a record of four times.
“By the end of 2023, our beloved brother Senator Ahmad Lawan will be spending 24 years at the National Assembly i.e. 16 years as a senator and 8 years as a member of the House of Representative, which to us, he should be grateful for.
“We are set to work hard and achieve the success of our candidate Hon. Bashir Machina and the victory of our party at all levels.
“Let it be made plain that we do not subscribe, support or encourage the thought of Hon. Bashir standing aside for the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, whom we supported to emerge as the presidential candidate of our party but Allah in his infinite wisdom made it different.
“We urge on our brother, Dr. Ahmad Lawan at this juncture to express thanks to the good people of Zone C for the support he has experienced from them since the revival of democracy in Nigeria in 1999 and not to be dragging a senate seat that he abandoned for an eye for the presidency. A piece of cake can’t be eaten twice in the same sitting”.
Obstacle from INEC
Aside Yobe Concerned Stakeholders, spirited attempt being made by Senator Ahmad Lawan to get the APC Senatorial ticket for the 2023 general election, is also hitting the brick wall of INEC which has refused to recognise him as APC candidate for the zone along with Senator Godswill Akpabio who is having similar problem in Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district.
Though as a way of compensating them for losing out in the party’s presidential primaries, APC submitted names of Lawan and Akpabio as its candidates for the afore stated senatorial districts but INEC, rejected them on the grounds of not emerging from primary election conducted by their party for that purpose.
Specifically, in a statement signed by the electoral body’s National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, last month, INEC declared that both Lawan and Akpabio were not recognised candidates for the Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial districts.
Okoye said: “As evidence of the alleged role played by the commission, a certified true copy of Form 9C uploaded by their political party and received by the commission on 17th June 2022 when the nomination portal closed was presented.
“For clarity, the Form EC9 (submission of names of candidates by political parties) is the form uploaded by parties on the INEC nomination portal. This is clearly indicated on the title of the form which was received on 17th June 2022 when the portal closed.
“What follows is the publication of the personal particulars of nominated candidates which was done a week later. The forms of the two personalities in question were not published by the commission.
“The decision of the commission triggered legal action which are still ongoing.
“It, therefore, defies logic and common sense to go around and submit doctored documents purportedly recognising the duo as candidates when the matter is clearly sub-judice.
“As part of the ongoing case in court, a law firm requested the commission for a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Form EC9 submitted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as its candidate for Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district which we are duty bound to oblige them under the law. The form was certified on July 15, 2022.
“If minimum care has been exercised by the promoters of the story, they would have seen the two stamps of the commission bearing different dates on the form. It is this form that is now misconstrued as INEC’s endorsement.
“For the record, the commission has not recognised any of the two personalities as a senatorial candidate.
“We call for responsible reportage as against the unwarranted attack on the commission and its officials over a matter than can be easily fact-checked.”
From the foregoing, neither Lawan nor Akpabio has been recognised by INEC as APC senatorial candidate in the 2023 general election but the question is , will Lawan or Akpabio make it eventually through the ongoing litigations?
Time will definitely tell.