Senate President Sen. Godswill Akpabio has responded to an allegation by Sen. Elisha Abbo that he was involved in his removal at the Court of Appeal.
The spokesperson for Senate President, Eseme Eyiboh, says his principal has no hand in the removal of Senator Elisha Abbo, who represented Adamawa North in the National Assembly.
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“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 said in a statement hours after the sacked lawmaker claimed he was removed for not supporting the Senate Presidency bid of Akpabio earlier in June.
Delivering judgment on Monday, a three-member panel of the Appeal Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, sacked Abbo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected lawmaker representing the area in the National Assembly.
Commenting on his removal later on Monday, the sacked senator said about five lawmakers had been penciled for removal for supporting the ex-governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, in the Senate President election, 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.