By Adadareporters
Ousted Adamawa North senator Elisha Abo says the president of the Court of Appeal, Monica Dongban-Mensen, has commercialised election petition verdicts.
According to him, Appeal Court is now ‘cash and carry’. He also called some of the judges ‘judicial bandits’. Abo is of the All Progressives Congress.
He was declared the winner of the February 2023 senatorial election for the zone but a Court of Appeal voided his election, and declared his main opponent, Amos Yohanna, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the validly elected senator.
The court cited non-compliance with the Electoral Act in the election, deducted what it declared were invalid votes and found that Mr Yohanna had more valid votes.
Shortly after the verdict, Abo accused the Senate President, Godswil Akpabio, of being behind his sack. Mr Abo had supported Abdulaziz Yari against Mr Akpabio for the Senate top seat. He however did withdrew the accusation and offered an apology to Mr Akpabio.
Mr Abo spoke Wednesday during a press conference in Abuja. He alleged that the court cancelled the election in 253 polling units without ordering for a return election “because they know I won those places, just because they know if the election is conducted today, tomorrow or next tomorrow, I’ll still win.”
He said Ms Dongban-Mensen has turned the Court of Appeal into a business entity where the highest bidders get what they want. He claimed he was among those who screened Ms Dongaban – Mensen in the Senate without asking for a dime from her.
Quoting him, “Let it be on record that it’s during your time that the Court of Appeal has descended into the abyss of caricature. There has never been a time in the history of the Court of Appeal that the court has become a cash and carry point, a POS point like now.
“I screened you as a senator in 2020. Your CV was forwarded to us. We screened you despite all the hullabaloo against your nomination. We looked at you based on the merits before us and we confirmed you. Did I take money from you? Did I ask you for money before I screened you? I could have objected.”
He accused children of judges of being part of the corruption circle where money is collected from those who have cases at the court.
In his words, “The moment a matter goes into the Court of Appeal today, it becomes something else. Children of judges flood either petitioners or respondents. Agents of judges flood politicians, asking you to go and settle the judges. This is not the renewed hope of Mr President. Mr President, you came under the renewed hope mantra…”
Abo urged the president and the National Judicial Commission not to elevate Chioma Nwosu-Iheme to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal. According to him, the promotion would not be in the interest of the country.
Our correspondent reports that Ms Nwosu–Iheme led two other judges of the Appeal Court to void Mr Abo’s election. Nwosu and 11 other judges of the Court of Appeal have been screened for elevation to the Supreme Court.
Abo said, “The kernel of my submission at this press conference is that the appointment of Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme to the Supreme Court is not good for our judicial system and dispensation of justice.
“For required punishment and deterrence, I have filed petitions against Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, Justice Olabode Adegbehingbe and Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo to the National Judicial Council and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) over their judgement in the electoral case between Reverend Amos Kumai of the PDP and me.”
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