Mike Igini: S’court judgment favouring Lawan counters electoral act on intra-party affairs

Mike Igini, a former resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom, has described the supreme court ruling on the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Yobe north as “an effort to kill” internal party democracy.

On Monday, the apex court affirmed Senate President Ahmed Lawan as APC’s senatorial candidate for Yobe north.

Delivering the judgment, three out of a five-member panel overturned an appeal court decision which favoured Bashir Machina, who had won an APC senatorial primary unopposed in May 2022.

Lawan was said to have participated in another primary organised 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 is the rightful candidate, and this led to a protracted legal battle.

Speaking on the supreme court judgment in a chat with Arise TV on Wednesday, Igini said the decision “put a final rite and internment” on intra-party affairs as provided in the electoral act.

“In our quest to have internal party democracy, every effort was made to have the 2022 electoral act,” he said.

“We carried out profound reports about political party primaries so that we could have an outcome that would reflect the wishes of the party members. It was done by the national assembly and signed by the president.

“All this judgment has done is an effort to kill that section of the law relating to internal party democracy. This judgment has put a final rite and internment on those provisions.

“If a process is not understood, then abuse is inevitable. The 2022 electoral act was designed to bring sanity to the choice of a political party.”