Outgoing Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan has narrated how he returned to the Senate — without contesting primary — after losing the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lawan said his subsequent re-election to the incoming 10th Senate after he lost the APC presidential primary election was a war fought by leaders of the party and some members of his Yobe North constituency.
He was responding to the criticism by Rochas Okorocha, the senator representing Imo West senatorial district, that he (Lawan) should teach him (Okorocha) how he returned to the Senate without contesting the senatorial primary.
METROWATCHXTRA.COM recalls that Lawan and Okorocha who both contested the last year’s presidential primary of the APC lost the ticket to the incumbent president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Lawan was unable to contest the APC’s Senatorial primary for Yobe North because of his presidential ambition. At the time, Bashir Machina, a former House of Representatives member, won the APC ticket for the senatorial zone.
Despite the fact that Lawan did not participate in the APC senatorial primary, the Supreme Court declared him to be the legitimate candidate of the ruling party for the Yobe North senatorial district.
Speaking during the outgoing 9th Senate’s valedictory plenary on Saturday, Okorocha said he was surprised to see Lawan return as a senator even though he did not obtain the senatorial ticket.
“I did not contest for the senate this period. I only contested for the office of senate president,” Okorocha, who is not returning to the impending 10th Senate, said.
“You are a very smart politician. How you came back [to the senate] is another chapter in our political history that we need to discuss,” the ex-Imo governor noted.
“I was there in the field with you running for president. I never knew how you were able to meander, leaving some of us. Next time you must teach me how to do that. I want to be your student next time. It is more of ‘the more you look, the less you see.”
Responding, Lawan said after he was defeated in the last year’s APC presidential primary, some members of his Yobe North constituency approached him and persuaded him to return to the Senate.
“It was easy. I was there with you in the field, and after our defeat, my constituents thought they needed me again. They asked me to come back, and it was a tortious journey because we had to go through the courts. I didn’t even appeal the judgement that did not give me the contest.
“The party and the stakeholders appealed on my behalf up to the Supreme Court, so there is nothing critical or remarkable. In fact, you have nothing to learn from it,” the outgoing senate president said.
