The sacked representative of Adamawa North Senatorial District, Elisha Abbo, has said the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was behind the ruling of the Court of Appeal that removed him from office.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday voided the election of Abbo on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Abbo winner of the February 25, 2023 parliamentary election, but Amos Yohanna, his Peoples Democratic Party rival, rejected the result and headed for the court.
The Adamawa State Elections Petitions Tribunal, in its earlier judgement, dismissed Yohanna’s petition for lacking in merit.
The PDP candidate, through his counsel, Johnson Usman (SAN), approached the Court of Appeal.
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, thereafter, deducted the invalid votes from the parties and found that Yohanna and the PDP won the election by majority of lawful votes.
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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 the validly elected lawmaker for Adamawa North Senatorial District.
Reacting to the court’s ruling, Abbo said four other senators who worked against the emergence of Akpabio as the Senate President had been targeted for removal from the Red Chamber through the court.
In an interview with newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Abbo specifically mentioned Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC-Abia North) as the next target for removal 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 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.”
Abbo wondered how with the over 11,000 votes margin of victory he had above Yohanna in the election, the Court of Appeal overturned his victory.“
The court judgement is strange and the judiciary needs to please remain the last hope of the common man,” he added.
He, however, appealed to his supporters to remain calm, vowing to recontest in 2027.
Efforts made to get the reaction of Akpabio to the allegation did not yield result at the time of filing this report.