Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, is now left in the cold in his bid to return to the Senate in 2023 as Bashir Sherrif Machina has vowed not to relinquish Yobe North Senatorial District ticket to him and the Independent National Electoral Commission declares Machina as the right candidate.

As at the end of this week, the certified true copy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in the Yobe North Senatorial District, still shows Bashir Sherrif Machina as the winner of the poll held on May 28, 2022.

This is in spite of the fact that the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, has joined the people presenting Lawan as the winner of the Yobe North Primary Election.

So, Machina, yesterday, stormed the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Yobe State to obtain a certified true copy of the primary election, which the commission monitored.

A copy of the document shows that Machina scored 289 votes out of the 300 votes cast by the delegates.

The document certified by the electoral office on June 23, 2022, did not mention Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President.

It would be recalled that Machina has been arguing that Lawan, who took a shot at the presidential ticket of the APC, did not participate in the senatorial primary election.

Machina has vowed not to relinquish the ticket to Lawan.

 Daily Trust earlier reported that Machina said he was approached by some people to relinquish the ticket to Lawan, but that he refused.

Machina added: “As far as I’m concerned, I contested for the Yobe North Senatorial ticket and I won the election. I am still the candidate; I have not withdrawn and I will not withdraw for anybody. I am being approached by some persons but I will not withdraw, Insha Allah.”

 NewsOrient learnt that Lawan’s bid to come back to the Senate in 2023 after his presidential bid misadventure and Machina’s refusal to relinquish the ticket to him have become sources of deep disagreement and division among APC leaders beyond Yobe State.