Court sacks Elisha Abbo, declares PDP’s Amos Yohanna as Adamawa North senator
Adamawa North Senatorial District All Progressives Congress (APC) member Sen. Elisha Abbo was removed from office on Monday by an Appeal Court in Abuja. A three-judge panel headed by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme ruled that Rev. Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was duly elected to represent the district as a senator. The panel directed INEC to produce Yohanna a Certificate of Return as proof of his election. On February 25th, INEC announced that Abbo had won the senate election. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Yohana and the PDP appealed the decision to the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Yola, Adamawa State. The court found Yohanna’s appeal to be without merit and rejected it. Reverend Amos Kumai Yohanna and another vs. Ishaku Elisha Cliff and others, appeal number CA/YL/EP/AD/SEN/06/2023, was filed with the Appeal Court by the PDP candidate and his lawyer Johnson Usman,SAN, who were both displeased with the tribunal’s judgement. After hearing arguments from both sides, the Court of Appeal agreed with Usman that, under Section 137 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the results tendered demonstrated that there was no conformity with the Act. After subtracting the number of illegitimate votes from each party’s total, the court declared Yohanna and the PDP the winners. The court voided Abbo’s Certificate of Return, declaring Yohanna the rightful senatorial representative of Adamawa North, and ordering INEC to do the same. Sam Ologunorisa, SAN, responded to the ruling by saying he had nothing to add because “the Court of Appeal is the final court.” Michael Numa, SAN, an attorney representing the APC, declined to comment until he had seen the ruling. “I was not present when the verdict was announced. So, I need to see the judgement before offering any sort of opinion on it,” he remarked. Justices M.I. Sirajo and O.A. Adegbhinde.kk are also on the panel.