At the valedictory session of the 9th Senate, the Senator representing Imo-West, Rochas Okorocha, asked the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, how he made it back to the senate without participating in the Alla Progressives Congress (APC) primary election.
It should be recalled that Senators Okorocha and Lawan contested for the presidential ticket of the APC along with the eventual winner and president, Bola Tinubu.
Lawan’s participation in the APC presidential primary, according to the Electoral Act, meant he would not contest for the Yobe-North senatorial ticket of the APC.
Lawan’s fate appeared to have been sealed after a winner, Bashir Machina, was declared winner of the primary monitored by INEC.
Machina was later approached but he refused all entreaties for him to withdraw.
APC ditched Machina and substituted him with Lawan. Machina consequently approached the courts, but after Lawan had lost at the lower and appel courts, the Supreme Court handed the Yobe-North ticket to Lawan.
Therefore, speaking at the valedictory session, Sen. Okorocha, who is not returning to the senate, asked how Lawan made it back to the Senate considering the circumstances and with recourse to the law all of them passed.
Okorocha said: “I did not contest for the senate this period. I only contested for the office of the president. 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.
“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,” he said.
In his response, Lawan said: “It was easy. I was there with you in the field and after our defeat, my constituents thought they needed me again. They asked for me to come back and it was a tortious journey because we had to go through the courts.
“I didn’t even appeal the judgment 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.”
