Machina and APC’s ‘Machination’ that Defies Imagination
By Ozumi Abdul,
Just when Nigerians are still gnashing their teeth and battling to grapple with the scarcities of fuel and naira, that have subjected them to untold hardship, the country’s apex court yesterday served them a ‘comic relief’.
Contrary to public expectation, the Supreme Court, affirmed the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Yobe North, in the 2023 National Assembly elections.
Let’s face it: the judgment of the Apex Court is truly an affront to the sensibility of the general public. It is also a slap on the face of the country’s judiciary, that has been suffering from a monumental reputational crisis, fueled lack of independence, corruption and living in the shadow of the executive.
Delivering the judgment on the Yobe North APC senatorial ticket tussle, three out of the five-member panel agreed that the suit at the trial court ought not to have commenced via an originating summons, since it contained allegations of fraud.
“The bedrock of the suit shows that there were allegations of fraudulent practices against the appellants,” Centus Nweze said, and that sealed it for the Senate President.
Recall that one of the most fascinating and intriguing stories in the recent political epoch was the reincarnation of David versus Goliath in the APC’s Yobe North senatorial primary election between Ahmed Lawan and Bashir Machina. It’s a story of unbridled greed, repudiating selfishness and inordinate ambition.
Many Nigerians watched in bated breath, the twists and turns and the unfurling of events, as the APC trampled upon one of its own in a shameless attempt to do the bidding of another of its bigwigs.
The APC, never minded spurning the 2022 Electoral Act, jettisoned any merest pretence to due process, when it forwarded the name of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, as its candidate for the Yobe North senatorial seat.
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Senator Lawan wanted to fall back on his birth-righted senate seat (which he eventually got yesterday though) when his impromptu presidential ambition nosedived. Things would have fallen in place beautifully and easily were it not for the new Electoral Act.
In the natural order, a rat does not have two tails. Senator Lawan wanted to break this order when he situated himself as a rat with two tails: one in the presidential election; the other in the senatorial election, where he has perpetuated himself for close to two decades.
He and the APC, were attempting to prove how convenient it is for a man with an elephant in his kitty, to muscle off a cricket from another man, using his powers.
Bashir Machina had admirably held tenaciously unto his victory, before yesterday’s supreme court judgement, successfully wading off every attempt to shove him off his earned candidature.
Machina’s eventual victory in appeal court will be an inkling of a new order where heft and braggadocio will not triumph over due process, but the Supreme Court bottled it up yesterday, by forcing the morsel of falsehood down our throats to believe that the judgement was rightly served.
To many Nigerians, Senator Lawan passes across as an uninspiring leader, leading one of the most insouciant, blithe assemblies. The senator’s current assembly, under his dull leadership, has raised the bar of bootlicking and rubber-stamping to a scathing level.
His inglorious exit of the power arena would have thus, be considered a refreshing breather, but here we are again with that yesterday supreme court’s comic judgement.
If I were President Muhammadu Buhari, who happens to be the overall leader and father of the party I will be prevailing on issues like this. I would have waded into it to ensure the right thing is done without unnecessarily resorting to court issue.
But as the Senator Ahmed Lawan savour his mysterious judicial triumph, I can only ask God to have mercy on the kind of democracy we practice in this part of the world. It is awfully an aberration.
Ozumi Abdul is staff writer at PRNIGERIA write from Kano state. He can be reached via
