The spokesperson for Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Eseme Eyiboh, claims that his boss had nothing to do with Elisha Abbo’s ouster as the senator who represented Adamawa North in the National Assembly.
Eyiboh issued a statement hours after the ousted member claimed he was dismissed because he refused to back Akpabio’s quest for the Senate Presidency earlier in June. “The outcome of any court proceeding is a function of the evaluation of facts and evidence within the province of the rule of law,” Eyiboh stated.
A three-member panel of the Appeal Court in Abuja, led by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, handed down its decision on Monday and dismissed Abbo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court also mandated that Amos Yohanna, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), receive a Certificate of Return as the legitimate representative for the region in the National Assembly from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Later on Monday, when asked about his dismissal, the senator claimed that five other senators had been targeted because they had backed Senator Abdulaziz Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, in the race for Senate President, which Akpabio ultimately won.
However, Akpabio’s spokesman, Eyiboh, in a statement on Tuesday “strongly rejected claims by Senator Elisha Abbo that the Senate President influenced the judgment of the Court of Appeal that sacked him from the Senate”.
“It is uncharitable for Senator Abbo to pour his frustrations on Senator Akpabio or anyone else and his action betrays the bile he has for Senator Akpabio.
“Senator Akpabio for emphasis has no ill will towards any of his distinguished colleagues and as he has said in the past, the embers of the leadership election have been buried and replaced by the fraternal bond of nation-building he shares with the overwhelming majority of senators,” he said.
