The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has affirmed Bashir Machina as the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary for the Yobe North Senatorial District.

According to The Witness, an authentic copy of INEC’s report from the May 28, 2022, election showed Mr Machina scored 289 votes out of 300 delegates, corroborating the politician’s public claim that he won the primary and legally emerged candidate.

The document certified by the electoral office on June 23, 2022, did not mention Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President who has been labouring to claim Mr Machina’s mandate in collusion with the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.

Mr Adamu had listed Mr Lawan as the candidate of the APC for the Yobe North senatorial election slated for February 2023, claiming that the primary had ‘secretly’ held another primary election in which Mr Lawan purportedly emerged as the winner.

Mr Lawan’s name was then uploaded on INEC’s server by the ruling party alongside other senatorial candidates across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.

Mr Lawan started making attempts to claim the senatorial ticket from Mr Machina after losing at the ruling party’s presidential convention, which was won handily by Bola Tinubu on June 8.