Yobe North Senatorial District: TMG raises concerns over INEC's role in Lawan, Machina case

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has expressed concern over the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for the seat Yobe North Senatorial.

The group on Wednesday accused the commission of colluding with the APC to rob Bashir Machina, a legitimately elected candidate for the seat, in favor of Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

Mr. Machina emerged victorious in the Yobe North Senatorial District primary election overseen by INEC officials earlier in the year. The president of the senate did not participate in the primary.

At the time the drill took place, Mr Lawan was pursuing his presidential ambitions but lost out to former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu.

Rather than submitting the name of the elected candidate, the name of the President of the Senate was submitted to the committee by the APC, a decision that led to the deliberate omission of their names from the published details of the candidates in late June .

To clarify the controversy simmering around the seat, the INEC, on at least two occasions, said it had rejected the name of the President of the Senate because he had not been validly nominated for the Senate seat.< /p>

The commission, however, urged Mr. Lawan and Machina to resolve their issues internally or seek redress in court.

Against this background, the TMG, in a statement signed by its chairman, Auwal Musa, challenged an affidavit before the Federal High Court in Yobe, claiming that it disobeyed the electoral law.

The group, however, did not disclose the contents of the affidavit and who filed it.

"Just as we are concerned about impunity through the rugs of some political parties that deliberately nullified victories or allowed questionable replays in favor of some candidates who contested and lost their primaries under separate seats, we find that the tactical pursuit of injustice and impunity through a judicial institution displayed in an affidavit dated August 11, 2022, filed in the Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State, as amounting to a probable disobedience to reason and the sanctity of the provisions of the electoral law and a betrayal of public trust,” Musa noted.

He accused the CENI of having a role to play in the latest developments and thus questioned its will to organize free, fair and credible elections in the general elections of 2023.

"We have observed with grave condemnation the condition deliberately created by the electorate to overturn the result and victory of a democratically recognized candidate in favor of an individual, who neither qualifies under the law election nor as a documented candidate in the senatorial primary.

“We therefore call on the INEC to maintain absolute neutrality and respect for the rule of law in its activities at all levels, to demonstrate competence and reliability to ensure integrity and public confidence. in the 2023 general election,” he continued. said.

The TMG boss, in the 10-paragraph statement, did not explicitly define the exact role of the electorate in the legal standoff between MM. Lawan and Machina.

Calls to INEC spokesperson Festus Okoye by PREMIUM TIMES to clarify the committee's position went unanswered.

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