Senate President Godswill Akpabio has reacted to the allegation that he was behind the dismissal of Senator Elisha Abbo, who represented Adamawa North in the National Assembly.
Visitodell recalls that a three-member panel of the Appeal Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, fired Abbo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday.
Speaking after the allegation was made in a press conference held by the sacked senator, Eseme Eyiboh, the spokesperson for Senate President, said that his boss has no hand in the removal of Abbo by the election tribunal.
In a statement hours after the sacked lawmaker claimed he was removed for not supporting the Senate Presidency bid of Akpabio earlier in June, Eyiboh said that “The outcome of any court proceeding is a function of the evaluation of facts and evidence within the province of the rule of law.”
The court has since directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the legitimately elected member of the National Assembly for the area.
Earlier, the dismissed senator alleged that he and five other members were targeted for removal for supporting ex-governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, in the Senate President race, which Akpabio later 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.
