Indication emerged that the winner of the Yobe North Senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bashir Sheriff Machina has not withdrawn for the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan
Machina also denied resigning his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lawan had lost the party’s presidential race while Machina had already contested and won the senatorial primary in Yobe North, the zone Lawan is representing at the National Assembly.
This had generated heated debate as Machina had refused to step down for Lawan, who returned to take the party’s senatorial ticket for Yobe North, leading to litigation.
In a letter dated September 4, 2022, and addressed to the APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Machina purportedly announced his withdrawal from the APC and senatorial race.
But reacting, Machina said, “It is brought to my notice that some unscrupulous elements have forged my withdrawal letter out of mischief and blackmail. I want to state unequivocally that the purported letter was forged. I did not at any time withdraw or resigned from my party.
“I was shocked when I discovered that some persons concocted plans to mislead the public, particularly my supporters into believing that I have withdrawn.
“The discrepancies between the two dates, especially between the date of writing the purported letter and the date it was received exposed the author’s inadequacies and lack of sufficient administrative knowledge.”