Breaking: EU faults Supreme Court’s reinstatement of Ahmad Lawan

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) has criticised the Supreme Court, saying that it has tarnished its public perception by reinstating former Senate President Ahmad Lawan to the red chamber, despite his non-participation in the primaries election.

Recall that initially, Lawan had contested the presidential ticket of the ruling party All Progressives Congress, (APC) but after being defeated by Bola Tinubu, he secure the senatorial ticket in his district

But the EU in its recently released final report titled ‘Election Observation Mission Nigeria 2023’, said the Supreme Court continues to maintain a negative perception after reinstating Senator Ahmed Lawan, who never participated in primaries for the Senate

“The Nigerian Supreme Court continues to maintain a negative perception after reinstating Senator Ahmed Lawan, who never participated in primaries for the Senate. The high court and appeal court judgments were against this.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling that brought in Lawan emerged from a political battle between Mr. Lawan and his political ally Bashir Machina, who refused to relinquish the APC ticket for the Yobe North senatorial district.

However, Mr. Machina, the rightful winner of the Yobe North senatorial ticket, stood his ground, refusing to surrender it under any circumstances. To remove Mr. Machina and support Mr. Lawan, the APC urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the former Senate president as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North in the 2023 elections.

Eventually, on February 6, 2023, the controversial ruling by the Supreme Court went in favour of Mr. Lawan.