The All Progressives Congress' (APC) senatorial candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District, Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, was reinstated by the Supreme Court on Monday.
The Supreme Court confirmed Lawan as the APC's legitimate senatorial candidate in the Yobe North Senatorial district in a 3–2 split decision.
The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal's rulings affirming Bashir Sheriff Machina as the APC candidate after he won the party's primary poll on May 28, 2022, were overturned and set aside by the supreme court in the majority judgment.
Given the serious charges in his lawsuit against the defendants, Justice Centus Chima Nweze, who provided the majority opinion of the Apex Court, said that Machina should have started his action before the Federal High Court with a writ of summons.
Justices Emmanuel Akomaye Agim and Adamu Jauro, however, disapproved of the majority ruling.
They concluded that Machina was the legitimate candidate and that the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were accurate.
The two Justices ruled that Machina was legitimately nominated since the primary election on May 28, 2022, which resulted in his election, was legitimately held in accordance with the law.
Justices Jauro and Agim additionally argued that the May 28 primary election, which reportedly produced Lawan, was illegitimate and in violation of section 285 of the 1999 Constitution since it was not canceled before June 9, 2022.
