The failure of Senator Elisha Abbo (Adamawa North – PDP) to show up before Zuba Chief Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, August 20, has slowed down his assault case.
The development of a video that caught Abbo brutally attacking a lady, Warmate Osimibibra, in Abuja prompted widespread outrage in July 2019.
Despite initial defiance, the lawmaker issued an extremely open, heartbroken conciliatory apology to his injured victim and asked her, and Nigerians, for forgiveness days after the video’s development.
Notwithstanding, he argued not guilty to two counts of criminal utilization of power and criminal attack when he was charged under the steady gaze of the court a month ago. He was conceded a N5 millon bail while the case proceeded.
During resumption of hearings on Tuesday, Abbo’s counsel, Isaac Adeniyi, said the senator couldn’t show up because of a sickness.
“The defendant is not in court, the reason being that the defendant is down with an acute febrile illness. We have the surety in court and he came with the medical report from the hospital. We graciously ask to come back some other day,” he said.
Adeniyi unveiled that Senator Abbo was on admission in a medical clinic in Yola, Adamawa.
He offered a therapeutic report under the steady gaze of the court and requested adjournment of the case for the defendant to recover.
Prosecution counsel, James Idachaba, did not item to the application, driving Chief Magistrate, Abdullahi Ilelah, to suspend till September 24.
Osimibibra, the lady who was struck by Abbo, was treated for eye inflammation and different wounds sustained during the assault, an occurrence that supposedly occurred on May 11, 2019, precisely one month before the 41-year-old senator was sworn into the ninth Senate.
Abbo brutally slapped the lady multiple times in the video and pushed her in the head after she attempted to intercede when he forcefully attempted to grab the telephone of a business agent at a sex toy shop.
The Senate set up a specially appointed board of trustees right off the bat in July to explore the occurrence and report in about fourteen days, however the test has slowed down.
