Elisha Abbo too sick to attend court trial over assault

The failure of Senator Elisha Abbo (Adamawa North - PDP) to appear before Zuba Chief Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, August 20, has stalled his assault case.

The emergence of a video that captured Abbo savagely assaulting a woman, Warmate Osimibibra, in Abuja led to widespread outrage in July 2019.

Despite initial defiance, the lawmaker issued a very public, teary-eyed apology to his victim and asked her, and Nigerians, for forgiveness days after the video's emergence.

However, he pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal use of force and criminal assault when he was arraigned before the court last month. He was granted a N5 million bail while the case continued.

During resumption of hearings on Tuesday, Abbo's counsel, Isaac Adeniyi, said the senator could not make an appearance due to an illness.

"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 disclosed that Senator Abbo was on admission in a hospital in Yola, Adamawa.

He tendered a medical report before the court and asked for adjournment of the case for the defendant to recuperate.

Prosecution counsel, James Idachaba, did not object to the application, leading Chief Magistrate, Abdullahi Ilelah, to adjourn till September 24.

Osimibibra, the woman who was assaulted by Abbo, was treated for eye inflammation and other injuries sustained during the attack, an incident that reportedly took place on May 11, 2019, exactly one month before the 41-year-old lawmaker was sworn into the 9th Senate.

Abbo savagely slapped the woman three times in the video and pushed her in the head after she tried to intervene when he aggressively tried to snatch the phone of a sales clerk at a sex toy shop.

The Senate set up an ad-hoc committee early in July to investigate the incident and report back in two weeks, but the probe has stalled.