Sex Toy Senator, Elisha Abbo, Makes U-Turn, Begs Akpabio: I’m Sorry, My Leader

By Tobi Aduloju

Sacked Adamawa North Senator, Ishaku Elisha Abbo, recapitulated on Tuesday has withdrawn his allegation that Sand withdrew his allegation that President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was behind the Appeal Court ruling that voided his election.

Abbo, who many derisively dubbed ‘Sex Toy Senator’ for brawling with a sales clerk over a sex toy, also disclosed that his change of heart came when Akpabio, despite the awesome powers of his office, swore on his mother’s grave that he never had a hand in his ouster from the Senate.

The sacked Senator made the assertion on Arise Television on Tuesday while apologizing to the Senate President over the matter.

The Crest recalls that the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on Monday, nullified the election Adamawa North Senator on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, awarding his seat to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Amos Yohanna, who, it ruled, won the February 25 senatorial election.

Few hours after the ruling on Monday, an embittered Abbo called a  press conference in his house where he alleged that the Senate President was not only the unseen hand that swept the carpet off his feet, Akpabio had also perfected plans to kick out former Chief Whip,  Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and three other senators, for having allegedly worked against his emergence as Senate President.

On Tuesday, Akpabio took the battle to Abbo’s door post, warning him not to vent his frustrations on him.

In a statement he issued in Abuja to counter Abbo’s allegation, Akpabio’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, denied flatly that the Senate President was behind Abbo’s travail.

“It is uncharitable for Senator Abbo to pour his frustrations on Senator Akpabio or anyone else,” Eyiboh fired back, saying “his action betrays the bile he has for Senator Akpabio. Democracy is founded in the rule of law, so for anybody to accuse one of the strong agents of democracy and governance in the mould of Senator Godswill Akpabio, such an individual must be a monument of self-pity and his swansong a discordant escape from reality.

“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.”

Well, all that is now in the past as Abbo not only made a U-Turn, but also begged Akpabio for forgiveness.

“I have to say this with all sense of humility and responsibility that the press release we issued yesterday was premature and based on the available information at our disposal yesterday,” Abbo told his interviewers on Arise Television.

“As of today, we have discovered a lot of things, and yesterday night I had a discussion with the Senate President, and I am convinced that he is not involved.”

Abbo justified that by quoting Akpabio as saying: “I swear by my mother’s grave that I’m not involved; I don’t even know that you’re in court.”

The sacked Senator then submitted: “For a number three citizen to come up to tell me that he has sworn on his mother’s grave, a woman that he loves so much, a woman who brought him up after he lost his father at the age of six, I don’t see a reason why he would lie.”

Continuing, Senator Abbo said: “I have to say this with all sense of humility and responsibility that the press release that we rendered yesterday (Monday) was premature as the available information at our disposal then portended.

“We discovered a lot of things yesterday…yesterday (Monday) night, I also had a discussion with my leader, senior brother, colleague and the President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Akpabio and I am convinced that he was not involved in my exit from the Senate.”

Not only that, Senator Abbo also claimed to have got “a more credible and authenticated intelligence”, Tuesday morning, to the effect that Senator Akpabio was not involved in kicking him out of the Senate through the Court of Appeal. And based on additional intelligence, which he claimed later trickled in, Senator Godswill Akpabio’s innocence was not contestable.

Senator Abbo also punctured reports of alleged attempts to impeach the Senator Akpabio to which he (Abbo) was linked, saying:

“I want to say that there was no plan to impeach the Senate President at any time, who himself was a product of the popular votes of confidence by us (his colleagues). I support and respect Senator Godswill Akpabio to deliver on the core mandate of the Nigerian people. I am praying for God to give him wisdom because the senate is a chamber of equals and I am praying for wisdom for him to know how to manage his colleagues because I don’t want him to fail.”

On his part, Akpabio’s Media Adviser, Eseme Eyiboh, who was also on the same programme, commended Senator Abbo for his apology, saying:

“What he has done today is a very rare act of strength of character by coming out publicly to apologise to his father and his leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio by the umbrage.

“So, I want to thank him for that demonstration of goodwill and he will go places; and Akpabio for who he is, will not withhold any blessing and affection from him.”