Sacked Adamawa North Senator, Elisha Abbo, has accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio in the appeal court ruling sacking him from the National Assembly.
Earlier on Monday, Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had nullified the election of Abbo of the All Progressives Congress.
Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Abbo winner of the February 25, 2023 parliamentary election, but his Peoples Democratic Party rival, Amos Yohanna, rejected the result and headed for the court.
Delivering judgement, the tribunal had dismissed Yohanna’s petition for lacking in merit.
But the PDP candidate, through his counsel Johnson Usman (SAN), approached the Appeal Court.
The Court of Appeal, after hearing arguments from parties, agreed with Usman that based on Section 137 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the results tendered clearly showed that there was no compliance with the Electoral Act.
The court then deducted the invalid votes from the parties and found that Yohanna and PDP won the election by majority of lawful votes.
The three-member panel presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, in a judgement, ordered INEC to issue a Certificate of Return to Yohanna as validly elected lawmaker for the senatorial district.
Abbo in his reaction to the court’s ruling, said four other senators who worked against the emergence of Akpabio as Senate President had been targeted for removal from the Senate through the court.
Abbo while speaking with reporters on Monday in Abuja, specifically mentioned Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC Abia North) as the next to be sacked from the Senate.
He said, “I have it from a reliable source that myself and four other senators within the fold of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will be removed from the Senate through rulings from the courts, all because of working against the emergence of Akpabio as President of the 10th Senate.
“I won’t mention the names of all the four other ones targeted but the next in line is Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.”
The sacked lawmaker wondered how with over 11,000 votes margin he had above his closest rival, Yohanna Amos Yohanna of the PDP in the election, the Appeal Court upturned his victory.
“The court judgement is strange and the judiciary needs to please remain the last hope of the common man,” Abbo said.
But he appealed to his supporters to remain calm, vowing to recontest in 2027.
Efforts made to get Akpabio’s reaction to the allegation was not successful as of the time of filing this report.
