President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday, commended the Supreme Court judgement which declared him as the validly nominated candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Yobe North Senatorial District, in the forthcoming February 25 National Assembly election.
The Supreme Court in a split judgment of three to two justices, on Monday, declared Lawan as the candidate of the APC.
The majority decision was delivered by Justice Centus Nweze, after setting aside both the decisions of the Court of Appeal and trial court which earlier affirmed Bashir Machina as the candidate.
The majority judgement held that the decisions of the Federal High Court in Yobe and the Court of Appeal in Abuja “were perverse and must be set aside.”
Reacting to the verdict in an interview with journalists in Abuja, Senator Lawan commended the leadership of the APC for taking it upon itself to approach the Supreme Court after the judgement of the Appeal Court which had earlier accorded recognition to Machina
as the valid APC candidate for Yobe North.
Lawan said: “Let me start by thanking God for His blessing and for what happened today in the Supreme Court. The judgement on Yobe North particularly is a victory for APC in Yobe and generally APC across the country.
“What happened was democracy at work and the courts gave their various judgements and of course, the Supreme Court gave the final judgement.
“I want to at this point commend the Supreme Court and of course, the judiciary generally for making this kind of Judgment to strengthen our democracy.
“This is because it is not only for politicians to work and strengthen democracy it is all of us and all the institutions that have their roles to play.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank the All Progressives Congress our party for taking this matter to the Supreme Court.
“Actually, as an individual, I didn’t go to the Supreme Court to seek for redress but my party did and my people in Yobe North and Yobe State generally and many political associates and well-wishers across the country.
“Apart from that, there had been an appeal at the Supreme Court on this matter. So today, it is a victory for all of us involved.
“I am the symbol but the victory is for our party, the APC and for democracy.”
Lawan also commended his colleagues in the Red Chamber for their support throughout the period of the trial.
He said: “This 9th Senate has been a very productive Senate and our colleagues have shown interest in what has been happening in this Senate.
“I thank all my colleagues in the Senate for the support and the love for the partnership and I want to recommit myself to ensuring that the leadership of the senate continues to lead very well.
“We will always be appreciative of our colleagues who gave us the mandate to lead the 9th National Assembly.
“We will be looking at the 25th of February when the Presidential and the National Assembly elections will take place.
“By the Grace of God, Nigerians will Vote APC once again. On the 25th the presidential candidate of the APC Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu Jagaban Borgu will be voted in as President of Nigeria by the grace of God alongside distinguished Senator Kasim Shettima who is the vice presidential candidate.
“When it comes to the senatorial and House of Representatives, you know what it will be. It will be a landslide majority for the APC and the same thing for the House of representatives.
“We will continue to give Nigeria leadership to continue with those programmes and projects that we have been doing very well and rethink and retool those that we think we have not done very well. This I believe will make Nigeria better.”
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