Yobe North Senatorial candidate remains rigid on giving ticket to Lawan

Bashir Machina, Yobe North Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, has revealed that the current President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has no intention to return to the Senate.

Machina made it clear that, the senator would not have contested the party’s presidential primary if he had the ambition of returning to the Senate, hence he is not giving out the ticket to Lawan.

There are reports that Lawan is now seeking a transfer of the senatorial ticket secured by Machina to him to return to the Senate.

Machina said, “The pressure is more or less speculative. There wasn’t any clear-cut person or message directly that says I should step down but from the headquarters of my party (APC), recently I was informed that if I was still in the race, I should write formally to inform the party that I am.”

He confirmed  that the letter that trended online was his response to the request from an unnamed caller from the national headquarters of the APC.

“I formally wrote a letter to the party, reiterating and affirming my position, that I am still the candidate; that I did not withdraw, and I am not withdrawing, and I’m in the race in the event that anybody is contemplating or doubting that there is any move,” he said.

When asked if the leadership of the APC asked him to step down for Lawan, Machina said, “No, I won’t step down because Ahmad Lawan did not contest for the Senate. Of course, it is a known fact that Ahmad Lawan contested for president and lost. And when I contested for Senate, Lawan did not participate (in the primary) or did not contest (for Senate). So, I don’t think that may be in any way an issue.”

When asked what he would do if the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), asked him to, Machina said the APC would not repeat the undemocratic tendencies in other parties for which the ruling party was created to end.

The candidate also stated that he is senior to Lawan by legislative ranking as he was in the House of Representatives in the defunct Third Republic while Lawan joined the National Assembly in the Fourth Republic.