Appeal Court Sacks Senator Elisha Abbo Of Adamawa North

Senator Ishaku Elisha Abbo, an All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, who had previously been declared the winner of the March 25 National Assembly election for the Adamawa Northern Senatorial District, saw his election overturned by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Monday, October 16.

The court ruled in favour of Rev. Amos Yohanna Kumai of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return previously issued to Senator Abbo and reissue it to Rev. Amos Yohanna Kumai. [caption id="attachment_12930" align="alignnone" width="1140"] Court sacks Senator Elisha Abbo from the National Assembly. Photo: Gazette[/caption] In response to the court's decision, Senator Abbo took to his verified Facebook page, stating, "The Court of Appeal in Abuja has invalidated my election. The coordinated effort against me has, for now, succeeded. I will soon address the press." Senator Abbo gained notoriety when he was involved in a widely publicized incident in which he assaulted a nursing mother at an adult toy shop in Abuja. The Abuja Division of the Nigerian Appeal Court had previously upheld a judgment that awarded Ms. Osimibibra Warmate, the victim of the assault, N50 million in damages. This incident occurred in the country's capital, Abuja. In addition to the Court of Appeal ruling, a prior judgment from an FCT High Court on September 28, 2020, had ordered Senator Abbo to pay N50 million as compensation to Ms. Warmate for the assault, Channels TV reports. Although a magistrate court in Zuba had found the senator not guilty of criminal assault in July 2020, Ms. Warmate pursued a fundamental human rights enforcement suit marked CV/2393/19 before the FCT High Court. In this case, Justice Samira Bature found Senator Abbo guilty and ordered him to pay the specified sum to the young woman. Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi, the Labour Party counterpart, have stated that they will appeal the judgment of the Tribunal at the Supreme Court. The Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal declared Bola Tinubu as the duly elected president of Nigeria, dismissing the petitions of the opposition candidates, including Atiku and Obi.