For Lawan, Akpabio, storm not yet over

Although they have reportedly been included on the senatorial list of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general poll, political watchers say they are far from weathering the storm. Daily Trust reports that Section 31 of the Electoral Act only allows for substitution when a candidate dies or when he or she […]

Although they have reportedly been included on the senatorial list of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general poll, political watchers say they are far from weathering the storm.

Daily Trust reports that Section 31 of the Electoral Act only allows for substitution when a candidate dies or when he or she withdraws from the race and informs INEC in writing.

The section reads: “A candidate may withdraw his or her candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered personally by the candidate to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the commission not later than 90 days to the election.”

Both Lawan (Yobe North) and Akpabio (Akwa Ibom North-East) sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to fly the presidential ticket of the APC in the recently concluded primary election of the party held in Abuja.

Both politicians returned to claim their senatorial district tickets having failed to secure their presidential ambitions.

While Lawan, tagged “consensus candidate”, lost out after securing 152 votes, Akpabio stepped down for the eventual winner, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who polled 

1,271 votes in the contest which also had Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi, among others, participating.

However, the moves by Lawan and Akpabio to obtain their senatorial tickets for next year’s election after losing out in the APC presidential primary have left them swimming in troubled waters.

Anxiety started brewing in the camp of the Senate President when the youth leader in his state, Bashir Machina, refused all entreaties to step down and hand over the senatorial ticket to him. 

Daily Trust reports that by the time he completes his fourth tenure, Lawan would have spent 16 years in the Senate.

Machina was the sole candidate for the Yobe North APC senatorial primaries as all those who indicated interest were told to back down to enable him (Machina) to hold the ticket for Lawan in case he loses the presidential election, which he indeed lost.

The primary, which took place at Gashua town on May 28, saw Machina garnering the 289 votes as the sole candidate even as Lawan who obtained all necessary expression of interest and nomination forms from the party was said to have failed to fill and submit them and did not submit himself for party screening.

But efforts by Lawan and associates of the APC in mounting pressure on Machina to get him to relinquish the ticket have proved abortive, and despite the party’s national leadership’s intervention.

Although APC is said to have forwarded Lawan’s name to INEC, Machina, a former chairman of the Nigeria Shippers Council reportedly said besides the Senate being a lifelong ambition, he had contested in the primary and won with over 280 votes while Lawan did not take part in the process.

At a press conference recently, Machina, who is a Third Republic member of the House of Representatives, rejected the substitution of his name in the list sent to INEC.

“I don’t know whether it was aerror, my name was not in the list of the names that were said to be presented to INEC. For the avoidance of doubt, I remain the candidate duly elected of the APC Yobe North Zone C senatorial zone,” he reportedly said.

While maintaining that he is the elected candidate, Machina, who described the removal of his name as undemocratic, illegal and inhuman said: “I did not withdraw for anybody and will not withdraw.”

Similarly, the submission to INEC by APC of Senator Godswill Akpabio to contest the 2023 Akwa Ibom Northeast Senate seat is viewed by analysts as an exercise in futility, having been ruled as untenable under the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act by INEC.

After losing out on his presidential aspiration by stepping down for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Akpabio was said to have returned to his constituency and ‘clinched’ the APC’s ticket for Akwa Ibom North-West during a second primary election held at Ikot Ekpene Stadium.

However, INEC denied monitoring the exercise that produced him.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, reportedly said in an interview that the second primary that produced Akpabio as the APC senatorial candidate was against the procedure of the new Electoral Act.

Referring to the Electoral Act, Igini said: “By virtue of Section 31 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the only way somebody can be replaced in any form is that we no longer have substitution by political party. What you have now is withdrawal by an individual or nominee and or death. 

“The law is not saying you should go and kill people so that you can have yourself on the ballot. No. The law is saying that those who have emerged at all levels, up to the presidential level, can decide that they are no longer interested. 

“You can write an application signed by yourself, and deliver to your party which will now deliver it to INEC but nobody can shave the political head of another person in his or her absence.

“The question is, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was he an aspirant on the list on the 27th when the election for the Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District was conducted? He was not there. We all know that he has been a presidential aspirant up to the last day of the APC convention in Abuja. That was what he participated in.

“To now say that an individual will conduct a primary for himself, by himself, and win by himself—oh my God! We are ridiculing our democracy. We are showing the world that we don’t have a system. We are showing that we are a permissive society, that indeed the rule of law means nothing in our country.

“At the time INEC report was written, Godswill Akpabio was not an aspirant. We didn’t write a report because of Akpabio, as some people are just talking nonsense,” Igini declared.

Lawyer, CSO kick

An Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, described as fraudulent and unconstitutional the replacement of the name of the APC Yobe North senatorial candidate, Bashir Machina, with that of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.

A statement, signed by Olajengbesi, who is the principal partner of Law Corridor, noted that Abdullahi Adamu wanted to “enthrone” Lawan as the party’s Yobe North senatorial candidate, despite him not contesting in the primary election.

He said the APC national chairman was hell-bent on foisting Lawan on members of the party, as seen, first during the buildup to the APC presidential primary when he announced Lawan as a ‘consensus candidate’ against the will of members of the National Working Committee of the party and other presidential contestants.

“Now that Lawan has lost the presidential primary to former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, it is shocking that the APC chairman again threw away constitutional democracy and moved on to enthrone Lawan as Yobe North senatorial candidate for the ruling party when it was apparent that the Senate president didn’t participate in the senatorial primary,” the statement read in part.

Similarly, the Abuja School of Political and Social Thought (The Abuja School), has asked INEC to reject the candidacy of Lawan and Akpabio for the 2023 polls.

In a statement issued by Sam Amadi, its director, the CSO said the duo did not participate in valid senatorial primaries organised by the APC.

In the statement, Amadi expressed satisfaction with the role of INEC in the political primaries but said Akpabio and Lawan cannot be approved as senatorial candidates.

“We want to commend INEC for exercising its oversight functions in a manner that forced the parties to comply with the requirement of democratically electing candidates for elective offices in the 2023 general elections. 

“Without INEC oversight, many of the parties would have continued the tradition of violating the norms of democracy in the choice of their candidates.

“Submitting names of persons who did not win duly conducted primaries on INEC portals is contrary to the electoral law. The electoral law requires that only persons who won duly conducted primaries should be submitted as candidates,” the statement said.

Although Akpabio has reportedly appealed that it was time to sheathe the sword over the Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial seat in the interest of the party, legal experts and political observers say the storm is not yet over.

Dr. Sam Amadi, the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, said INEC should act according to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 in cases of fraudulent substitution of names by political parties.

He said the commission has the power to remove names fraudulently sent to it by the political parties and also punish such parties, and must not wait for the judiciary before taking such actions.

On his part, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Nasir Abdu Dangiri, said since INEC is handicapped in terms of rejecting the names of candidates submitted by political parties, the option left in the case of Lawan and Akpabio is for the other candidates to proceed to court in the event that INEC publishes their names.