By Damola Emmanuel
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Wednesday, asked his party and the Nigeria Police Force to take immediate action against Senator Elisha Cliff Abbo, who assaulted a nursing mother at a sex shop in Abuja.
Atiku’s reaction came on the heels of a similar response by Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, who also said the police must move in swiftly to do the needful.
A video of Senator Abbo, accompanied by three girls, flying into a rage at a sex shop in Abuja, and slapping a nursing mother, had gone viral on Tuesday, triggering public outrage.
Abbo reportedly committed the offence in March 2019.
The monumental embarrassment by the senator’s unruly behaviour provoked the senate to set up an ad-hoc investigative committee to probe the veracity and circumstances surrounding the shameful behaviour; making appropriate recommendations.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, after seeing the video, took to his twitter handle to express his disgust at the youthful senator’s misbehaviour.
“I have seen the alleged assault video involving Senator Elisha Abbo,” Atiku Abubakar wrote. “The video is sad, inexcusable. I know the Senator quite well but the law is clear. And leaders must lead by example.
“I advise him to publicly apologise, voluntarily go to the police, and show a good example expected of a young leader.
“I also call on our party, the PDP, to take necessary disciplinary action and the Nigerian Police top ensure the law takes its full course.”
As far as Festus Keyamo, SAN, spokesman of the Buhari/Osinbajo campaign is concerned, the assault by the slapping senator is straight forward.
This is how Keyamo presented his response on his twitter handle: “The case of Senator Elisha Abbo is very straightforward: the Police MUST IMMEDIATELY take three steps: 1. Arrest him (no formal complaint is needed with the evidence on tape) 2. Obtain his statement (if he’s willing to make one) and that of the victim 3. Arraign him in court.”
Meanwhile, a report by The Punch newspaper said some Nigerians, using the hashtag, Change.org, have filed six petitions and collected a staggering 38, 473 signatures.
The petitions had titles like: “Recall of Senator Elisha Cliff Ishaku for assaulting a nursing mother in Abuja”, “Prosecute Senator Elijah Cliff for aggravated assault”, “Sign a petition to recall Sen. Elisha Abbo for physically assaulting a nursing mother”, “Justice for woman assaulted by senator Elisha Abbo”, and “End Abuse on women and girls”.
The crux of the petitions range from ones calling for the prosecution of Abbo to ones canvassing an end to abuse and brutalisation of women and girls.
But it was the petition started by one Daniel Adebayo that garnered the largest number of signatures.
Adebayo, in the petition, wrote: “Senate Elisha Abbo, who has benefitted from #NotTooYoungToRun movement and voted in as the youngest senator in Nigeria has acted irresponsibly by assaulting a helpless and defenceless nursing mother without provocation.
“As a senator, he is meant to be responsible, protect the right of Nigerians, instead he chooses to abuse and molest a defenceless citizen.
“His behaviour is abhorrent, completely unacceptable and totally condemnable.
“I am appealing to Nigerians to help sign this petition so that he can be prosecuted and brought to justice, as this will serve as a deterrent to others who might want to abuse power and perpetrate similar acts.”
Adebayo, according to The Punch report, targets 50,000 signatures and had garnered over 36,000 signatures, as of the time of filing this report.