The Independent National Electoral Commission has affirmed Bashir Sheriff Machina as the winner of the Yobe North senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress.
Machina polled 289 votes out of 300 delegates, a certified true copy of INEC’s report from May 28, 2022, election revealed, confirming the politician’s public claim that he won the primary and legally emerged candidate.
The document was certified by the electoral office on June 23, 2022.
This comes amid threats by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, who warned of severe sanctions if Machina refused to relinquish his ticket to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
Adamu claimed that the party is supreme and that it reserves the right to decide who gets its ticket in any election.
He said, “There’s nothing in the law stopping the Senate President from contesting for another nomination just because he lost a presidential bid.”
Adamu had listed Lawan as the candidate of the APC for the Yobe North senatorial election slated for February 2023, claiming that a primary had secretly held in which Lawan purportedly emerged the winner.
SaharaReporters has consistently reported the impasse with updates including how Machina claimed his life was under threat for refusing to step down for Lawan after the Senate President failed to clinch the APC presidential ticket.
This was disclosed by Machina’s campaign organisation in a statement obtained on Friday.
According to the campaign organisation, some hoodlums are after the life of Machina.
It, therefore, urged security agencies to take necessary measures to protect the Yobe APC senatorial candidate.
The statement had read, “Information at the disposal of Bashir Machina Campaign Organisation is that there is a security threat to the senatorial candidate of APC for Yobe North, Hon.
Bashir Sheriff Machina, especially in relation to his refusal to relinquish his legally acquired ticket.
“Credible sources confirmed that some people want him arrested or at worst eliminated. They have resorted to employing diabolical means over unlawful means, in pressurising him to step down.
“We use this opportunity to notify the security agencies of this threat or likely breach of security around our senatorial candidate, we believe the security agencies will rise up to the occasion and take the threat seriously.
“As Campaign Organisation, we warned that the people behind his ordeal in the last four days should be held responsible if any mishap happens to him. By this notice, we are putting everybody on red alert.”
Lawan had instead of contesting for the Yobe North Senatorial ticket challenged for the presidential ticket of the party but lost to a former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu.
