Senate Swears-In Sen Amos To Replace Sen Abbo As Adamawa North Senator

Sen. Amos Yohanna of the PDP representing Adamawa-North, officially took his oath of office and allegiance during Wednesday’s plenary session. This followed his recent victory in the senatorial election on Feb. 26, as declared by the Appeal Court.

The Clerk of the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, administered the oath and allegiance to Sen. Yohanna during the plenary.

Sen. Yohanna had initially contested his election results before the election tribunal, which ultimately dismissed his application for lacking merit.

He had filed a lawsuit against Sen. Elisha Abbo of the APC and the INEC at the tribunal, contesting the outcome of the senatorial election.

In his petition labeled EPT/AD/SEN/02/2023, Sen. Yohanna argued that Abbo’s election should be invalidated due to allegations of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

He maintained that Mr. Abbo was not duly elected based on the majority of lawful votes cast, citing instances of over-voting, false entries, as well as alterations and cancellations of votes at various polling units. He also pointed out that some of these changes were not properly authorized by the presiding officers.

Sen. Yohanna sought the tribunal’s intervention to nullify Abbo’s election and declare him as the rightfully elected senator for Adamawa North.

Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, he turned to the appeal court, urging it to nullify INEC’s declaration of Abbo as the winner of the election. The court of appeal, in its judgment, overturned the tribunal’s verdict and upheld Sen. Yohanna’s pleas.