EXCLUSIVE: Tinubu, Buni Behind Yobe North APC Senate Candidate, Machina’s Refusal To Step Down For Senate President, Lawan –Source

A Yobe North senatorial candidate, Bashir Sheriff Machina’s refusal to relinquish his ticket to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, may have been influenced by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni.

SaharaReporters exclusively gathered that Tinubu and Buni instructed Machina not to step down from the contest to teach Lawan a bitter lesson.

As further gathered, Lawan was deceived by a presidency cabal to contest the APC ticket, assuring him that President Muhammadu Buhari was going to retain power in the north.

A source privy to the circumstances that led to Lawan’s declaration to contest for the APC presidential ticket without making proper arrangements to secure a reelection ticket to retain his seat in the Senate, said Lawan was cocksure of succeeding Buhari.

The source said, “Ahmad Lawan was misled by those around the President (Buhari); they assured him that the President was not disposed to letting power out of the north and that he (Lawan) was the preferred candidate.

“Therefore, he failed to make plans like the Bauchi governor and others who reclaimed their tickets after losing contests at the presidential primaries.

“Seeing his aspiration had acutely traumatised Tinubu, it’s now a payback time because we learnt Tinubu and Governor Buni have vowed to stand with Machina,” the source added.

SaharaReporters on June 8, 2022, reported that the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Tinubu, shortly after emerging as the presidential candidate of the party, lambasted Lawan, saying he (Tinubu) was surprised that Lawan could compete with him.

Tinubu when called to give his remarks at the concluding national convention of the party at the Eagle Square, Abuja, said the Senate President “could now lick his wounds.”

On Friday, a source who spoke to our correspondent said Machina, who is currently in hiding, would remain incommunicado until after the expiration of the time for submission of names of candidates to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), later today.

SaharaReporters earlier on Friday reported that Machina raised the alarm that his life was in danger because he refused to step down for Lawan.

This was disclosed by his campaign organisation in a statement obtained on Friday.

Efforts to hear from Machina were not successful as his mobile phone was switched up until the time of filing this report.