Lawan reelected to senate for fifth term, says supporters ‘fasted, sacrificed’ for him

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has won a fifth term in the upper legislative chamber.

He currently represents Yobe north senatorial district which comprises Machina, Nguru, Yusufari, Bade, Jakusko, and Karasuwa LGAs.

Lawan polled 91,318 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bello Ilu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 22,849 votes.

Speaking with journalists on Monday, the senate president said his constituents prayed and fasted for his return to the upper legislative chamber.

He also thanked the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the state and national levels for supporting him.

“You know how well they did to ensure that we got the nomination to run for this seat,” Lawan said.

“They fasted, they prayed, and they did so many things — sacrificed — just because they wanted me to run.

“And therefore, they actualised their dream of voting me back to the senate on Saturday when they voted en masse, and to their credit, this is the highest number of votes against all the previous elections that I participated in.

“And therefore I want to take this opportunity to thank the Almighty Allah for his blessings and thank the people of Yobe north senatorial district for sticking with me, for believing in me, for trusting me to renew my mandate once again, for me to go back to the senate and the 10th national assembly to represent them and I thank them.

“I want to also thank the APC both at the national and state levels for making sure that as a party, they stayed behind me all through the period that we had some challenges.

“And of course, I want to also thank the governor of Yobe state, his excellency, honourable Mai Mala Buni, for believing that this party and our people are really so significant in politics in this state.

“The governor stayed all through the travails to ensure that the Yobe north senatorial district poll is contested by someone that the people of Yobe north believe and trust.”

Lawan had earlier been excluded from the INEC list of candidates for senatorial elections, following a crisis involving Bashir Machina, who had won unopposed during the senatorial primary organised by the party in May 2022.

However, after appeals and counter-appeals, the supreme court affirmed Lawan as the candidate for the senatorial district.