By Muhammad Suleiman Yobe.
The controversy over getting the ticket for the APC in Yobe North senatorial district between the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan and Bashir Machina has created a serious gap and misunderstanding among the people of the region.
Yobe North region is the most populace senatorial district with 6 local government areas in the state. These are Bade, Nguru, Jakusko, Machina, Karasuwa and Yusufari, and 99 per cent of the residents are Muslims living peacefully with one another despite the fact that there are differences in languages and ethnicity.
The majority of the residents are Manga [ Kanuri ] Hausa, Badawa, Fulani and other minorities, but these differences do not cause problems for the residents for more than 1000 years, as history revealed, more especially if we consider how residents are joking between tribes.
Of course, many things happened between 2022 to 2023. Some happened before primary elections, during the primary and after the primary election as well as the general election that was held this year.
Recalled that in May 2022, Bashir Sheerif Machina won Yobe’s north senatorial primary election, unopposed as organized by the All Progressive Congress, APC.
But the senate president Ahmed Lawan was said to have participated in another primary organized by the APC after he contested the presidential ticket unsuccessfully in June.
Machina was reportedly asked to step down for Lawan, but he insisted that he was the rightful candidate.
Amid the controversy, the APC submitted the senate president’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate for Yobe north.
The electoral commission subsequently refused to list any candidate for the district.
Aggrieved, Machina instituted a suit asking the court to declare him as the authentic senatorial candidate.
In September 2022, a federal high court in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, ordered the APC and INEC to recognize Machina as the candidate.
A month later, an Abuja court of appeal affirmed Machina’s election as the candidate of the APC for the Yobe north senatorial district.
On 6th February 2023, the supreme court sitting in Abuja affirmed Senate President Ahmad Lawan as APC candidate for the zone and was re-elected for the fifth time in the just concluded 25th February presidential and national assembly elections.
This tussled between Lawan and Machina has caused serious problems and enmity between the residents of the area from the supporters of each side.
Each side accuses its opponent of harming and exchanging unpleasant words, especially on social media sites, which is why in this month of Ramadan, the supporters of one side prayed badly for one of the leaders.
In the same way, during the election campaign, there were conflicts and political divisions between each party, which is a strange thing in the region.
During the election, there were some factions with a massive anti-party, and there were some factions that fought other, which led to bad fighting between them.
This conflict has once again created enmity between the residents of other towns, especially regarding the local governments’ origin of Bade and Machina.
In the same way, this problem has created division in the management of the development of the towns in the area and divided the members of the APC, which is the reason why the party lost the election of a member representing Bade Jakusko in the green chamber and two Yobe state members house of representatives, representing Nguru outside and Bade Central.
Surely, this is the right time for traditional rulers of the zone, politicians and the entire leaders in the state and country should sit and reconcile these politicians for the development of the state. Because this coast has nothing to do with the development of the region except for regression.
Muhammad Suleiman Yobe wrote from Jigawa state. He can be contacted via muhammadsuleiman190@gmail.com.