By: Tony Ochelebe ll
Some of us treated the allegations of Senator Elisha Abbo with a pinch of salt when news filtered in on Monday, 16th October, 2023 that the President of the Senate and Chairman of the 10th National Assembly, Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio had a hand in the sack handed over to him by the Appeal Court.
The allegation sounded laughable, spurious and unfounded, especially when he echoed that he heard from a reliable source and that he was not the only target, that the sacking of four other senators including former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was in the offing. What did he say their crime against Senator Akpabio was? They did not support Akpabio’s emergence as the Senate President. Even in this too, the words galloped out of his mouth. On one breath, he said it was a witch hunt because of his critical stand on national issues and on the other, he said it was because he and the others did not support Akpabio. Abbo is a megalomaniac and an inconstant fellow that should never be taken serious.
In some climes, the ilk of Elisha Abbo whose only trade in stock is to be in the media at all costs should never get close to becoming a councilor of a ward, let alone becoming a senator of a Federal Republic like ours. Abbo was the one who coveted the title of a “Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” yet, he was the one slapping a lady in a sex toy shop and would later ask to compensate her because he thought he was a man of power. It is this same Abbo that would jump on trending issues such as #justiceformohbad just to be in the news.
Senator Abbo, clearly thought that pinning his ouster from the Senate on a democratic colossus like Senator Akpabio, the Senate President who has given youthful figures such as himself more audience in the Senate, would gain him a level of public acclaim and sympathy. But he failed.
It was Abbo’s failure to weave a convincing yarn against the Senate President that made him eat the humble pie and went after his vomit with all his strength. What else would anyone think made him take back his allegation and apologize? Does anyone think that he simply retracted his earlier statement and apologized just because the Senate President said he had no hand in the decision of the Appeal Court?
Abbo is a drowning Senator that needs good swimmers, not just good swimmers, but those skilled in rescuing drowning people to come to his rescue.
Tony Ochelebe ll is a writer. He lives and works in Abuja.
