Jinjiri, through his counsel, Barrister Usman Lukman Nuhu told Justice Fadima Aminu of the Federal High Court, Damaturu on Wednesday that a notice of discontinuance had been filed and served on the defendants in the matter.
A former aspirant for Yobe North senatorial district in the All Progressives Congress, Abubakar Abubakar Jinjiri, has withdrawn the suit he filed against the senatorial candidate, Bashir Sheriff Machina, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC over his senatorial ambition.
Jinjiri, through his counsel, Barrister Usman Lukman Nuhu told Justice Fadima Aminu of the Federal High Court, Damaturu on Wednesday that a notice of discontinuance had been filed and served on the defendants in the matter.
The development occurred shortly after the matter was called.
Nuhu said he had Jinjiri's instruction to withdraw the suit and subsequently prayed the court to discontinue the case and make an order striking it out.
Machina's counsel, Barrister Mohammed Ngumurumi, who held the brief of Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), however, prayed the court to dismiss the case instead of striking it out. Other defendants also did not oppose the plaintiff's withdrawal notice.
In her ruling, Justice Fadima Aminu held that Jinjiri had the right to file the notice of withdrawal.
She said the notice of discontinuance was valid and accordingly dismissed the case as prayed by Machina's counsel.
Jinjiri on June 17, 2023, approached the Federal High Court, Damaturu with a pre-election petition challenging the candidacy of Bashir Machina who emerged winner at the May 28 APC senatorial primary election of Yobe North.
Jinjiri had alleged exclusion from the primary election, which produced Machina as the candidate.
His lawyer, Nuhu had said Jinjiri was deprived of participating in the Yobe North senatorial primary despite his presence at the venue.
He stated that the exclusion of an aspirant contravenes section (84) sub-section (3 and 4) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Machina has been embroiled in legal battles since his victory in the primary election.
However, recently, INEC complied with a letter written to the electoral body by the APC asking it to recognise and publish Machina's name as its rightful candidate for Yobe North senatorial district.
The Federal High Court in Damaturu had in a landmark judgement ordered both INEC and APC to recognise Bashir Machina as the authentic senatorial candidate of the Party.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the APC in a letter dated October 12, 2022, and signed by its National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and the Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore asked INEC to publish the name of Machina on its portal in line with the court order.
The letter titled ‘Notification of Court Judgment In Favour of Bashir Sheriff’, reads, “We write to notify the Commission of the attached judgement dated 28th September 2022 and Order dated 5th October, 2022 from the Federal High Court, Damaturu Judicial Division directing the Commission to accept and recognize Bashir Sheriff as the Party’s candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District, Yobe State and to publish same accordingly.
“Above is for your information and necessary action, please.”
The Federal High Court in Damaturu had recently ruled that Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, is not the candidate of the ruling party for the senatorial district in next year’s election into the National Assembly.
The court ruled that Machina is the authentic candidate of the party having won the legally recognised primary supervised by INEC officials.
There had been controversy over the ticket.
Machina, at a primary election organised by the party in May, had won unopposed.
But Lawan participated in another primary election organised by the APC after he contested the party’s presidential ticket and lost in June to Bola Tinubu, who is now the presidential candidate of the party.
Machina was asked to step down for Lawan but he insisted that he would not withdraw for the Senate President.
Amid the controversy, the APC submitted the Senate President’s name to INEC as its senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
Aggrieved, Machina instituted a suit asking the court to declare him as the authentic senatorial candidate of the APC for the 2023 election.
In her judgment, Justice Fadimatu Aminu nullified the parallel primary election that produced Lawan on June 9, 2022.
The judge also ordered the APC to forward the name of Machina to INEC as the authentic winner of the primary held in May.