For now, there seems to be sigh of relief with celebrations among supporters as an Abuja Magistrate Court, sitting in Zuba in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, has dismissed the case of assault filed against Senator Elisha Abbo by the Nigeria Police Force for lack of merit.
The Magistrate, Abdullahi Ilela, who ruled in favour of the lawmaker representing Adamawa-North, said the police have failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that Abbo committed the crime.
The Court dismissed the suit for lack of diligent prosecution by the police. This is despite a viral video showing the lawmaker assaulting a woman, Osimibibra Warmate, and a televised media conference in which he apologized to the victim.
The Magistrate, who upheld the no-case submission filed by Senator Abbo, said the police did not convince the court that the lawmaker indeed assaulted Warmate on May 11, 2019.
The complainant, Warmate, and a police officer, ASP Mary Daniel, were the witnesses who testified against the Senator.
In her testimony, Warmate said she had gone to visit a friend, Kemi at Pleasure Chest Sex Toy Shop in Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja on May 11, 2019, when the lawmaker walked in with three women.
She said suddenly, one of the women that accompanied Abbo started vomiting and later fainted.
Warmate said when she left the shop, she received a frantic call from the owner of the shop, asking her to come to her aid as the lawmaker had accused her of fouling the shop’s air conditioning system, that caused one of his female companions to vomit and was threatening to get her arrested.
The victim said when she returned to the shop and was cleaning up the vomit, two men, one of whom was a policeman in uniform invaded the shop and assaulted them on the orders of Senator Abbo.
Recall that the court had on July 8, 2019, granted bail to Senator Abbo in the sum of N5 million.
