configure with --with-lua= / parameter seems to be not used

Describe the bug
When compiling with a provided, local compiled LUA (5.4.4), the --with-lua=/data/lua-5.4.4 seems to be ignored and results in "not found"
-> it does not seem to look at the path provided

Logs and dumps
...
configure: LUA library found at: /usr/lib64//liblua-5.3.so
*** LOOKING AT PATH: /opt/local
configure: LUA library found at: /usr/lib64//liblua-5.3.so
*** LOOKING AT PATH: /usr/lib/lua5.3/liblua
configure: LUA library found at: /usr/lib64//liblua-5.3.so
*** LOOKING AT PATH: /usr/lib/lua5.2/liblua
configure: LUA library found at: /usr/lib64//liblua-5.3.so
configure: LUA library was not found
...
-> no --with-lua=/data/lua-5.4.4 PATH inspected/used

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
configure --with-lua=/some/path

Expected behavior
*** LOOKING AT PATH: /some/path
finding LUA there

A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.
Expecting to find and use locally self-compiled LUA (5.4.4)

Server (please complete the following information):
ModSecurity v3.0.7
RHEL8

Initially i thought that the issue is that Lua doesnt build shared libs (.so) -> but even when building with shared libs (using patch from https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/blfs/svn/lua-5.4.4-shared_library-1.patch) -> the behaviour does not change.

Start with the configure --with-lua=/some/path entry point and reproduce the reported ModSecurity v3.0.7 behavior on RHEL8. Trace whether the supplied path is inspected and verify that a locally built Lua 5.4.4 is found and used instead of the fallback system paths.