I Lost My Senatorial Seat To Judicial Banditry — Senator Abbo

Former lawmaker representing Adamawa North in the Senate, Elijah Ishaku Abbo, has alleged that he lost his senatorial seat in the 10th Senate due to what he described as “judicial banditry.”

Abbo made the claim during an interview on Arise News Channel’s PrimeTime show on Wednesday night, monitored by our correspondent.

He accused the judiciary of manipulating the 2023 election outcome against him.

“I lost my senatorial seat through judicial banditry because there is no law that backs what happened,” Abbo asserted. “I believe the judge knows what she did, and that is why she had to send Ken Nnamani to my house to come and beg me.”

According to Abbo, former Senate President Nnamani’s visit was a confirmation of irregularities in the judicial process. “And it’s true, Ken Nnamani is still alive,” he added, emphasising that the former Senate President could corroborate his claims.

The former federal lawmaker further criticised the court’s decision, particularly the cancellation of election results in two out of five local government areas of Adamawa North without ordering a rerun.

“A situation where a judge said that an election that took place in five local governments, and she cancelled the election in two local governments, disenfranchised two local governments, 263 polling units, and did not order a re-election as the law stipulates—that is not the law, that is robbery, that is a coup against democracy,” he maintained.

Abbo also alleged that the judge was pressured to rule against him, claiming that the judicial system was compromised. “Of course, she was pressured, and I have stated it time and time again. Unfortunately, I petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC), but the NJC has become a body that only punishes small judges—Magistrates and High Court Judges—but cannot punish big Judges,” he said.

Expressing frustration over what he described as a lack of accountability in the judiciary, Senator Abbo advocated the dissolution of the NJC, arguing that it had failed in its duty.

“They should dismantle the NJC, they are doing nothing,” he declared. “I am advocating that the NBA should be the one punishing judges by passing a vote of no confidence on erring judges,” he added.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had, on October 16, 2023, nullified Abbo’s election and declared Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the rightful winner of the February 25, 2023 senatorial election in Adamawa North.