Appeal Court Sacks APC’s Senator Ishaku Abbo

The election of the lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ishaku Elisha Abbo, has been declared null and void by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

Naija News reports that Senator Abbo, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), confirmed to Channels Television on Monday, stating that the court ruled in favour of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Amos Yohanna.

At the court sitting on Monday, the three-member panel presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Amos Yohanna as the duly elected lawmaker representing the area in the National Assembly.

The appellate vacated the tribunal judgment, which had earlier affirmed Abbo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the senatorial election.

Naija News understands that INEC had declared Abbo the winner of the February 25, 2023, parliamentary election. The PDP and its candidate, however, expressed their dissatisfaction with the declaration and went to the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.

In its ruling, the tribunal dismissed Yohanna’s petition for lacking in merit. Subsequently, the PDP candidate, through his counsel Johnson Usman (SAN), proceeded to the Appeal Court.

The Court of Appeal, after hearing arguments from parties, agreed with 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 both parties and found that Yohanna and the PDP won the election by a majority of lawful votes.

In the wake of the judgment, Senator Abbo described it as a coup to democracy but told his supporters to be calm.