President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has said he has no hand in the sack of his former colleague, Senator Elisha Abbo.
The assertion was made on Monday by Mr. Eseme Eyiboh Special Adviser, Media, and Publicity to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, in reaction to the claim by Abbo that he plotted his removal by the court..
Eyiboh denied the involvement of his principal in the travail of Abbo.
He said, “It is unfortunate if he actually said that Akpabio was responsible for his removal. That’s the swan song of a man looking for scapegoats.
“The Court of Appeal across the country decides cases based on the provisions of the Electoral Act and evidence advanced by petitioners. The Senate President has no reason to witch-hunt any of his colleagues,” he said.
An Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, sacked Sen. Elisha Abbo, the All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District.
A three-member panel presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, in a judgment, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue a Certificate of Return to Rev. Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as validly elected lawmaker for the senatorial district.
INEC had, on February 25, declared Abbo as the winner of the senatorial poll.
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Dissatisfied with the declaration, Yohana and the PDP filed a petition before the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Yola, Adamawa State challenging the return of Abbo.
The tribunal, in its judgment, dismissed Yohanna’s petition for lacking in merit.
Further dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, the PDP’s candidate, through his counsel Johnson Usman, SAN, approached the Appeal Court via appeal number: CA/YL/EP/AD/SEN/06/2023 between Rev. Amos Kumai Yohanna and another Vs Ishaku Elisha Cliff and others.
The Court of Appeal, after hearing arguments from parties, agreed with Mr 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 PDP won the election by majority of lawful votes.
The court proceeded to set aside the Certificate of Return issued to Abbo and ordered INEC to issue same to Yohanna as the valid winner of the election representing Adamawa North Senatorial District.
