The Senate on Wednesday morning, swore-in Reverend Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Senator to represent Adamawa North.
Yohanna replaces Senator Elisha Abbo, who was recently sacked from the Red Chamber by the Appeal Court.
The Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance on Yohanna at the directive of the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who presided over plenary.
Following the swearing-in of Yohanna, APC has 59 Senators, PDP – 37, LP – 8, NNPP – 2, SDP – 2, and APGA – 1 in the 10th National Assembly.
Abbo, who had previously been affiliated with the PDP, made headlines when he defected to the APC during his initial term as Senator.
The Court of Appeal’s recent ruling signalled a new chapter in the political landscape of Adamawa North.
On February 27, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the APC candidate, Senator Abbo, as winner with 71,927 votes defeating PDP’s Yohanna who scored 61,895 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Yohanna approached the tribunal.
Yohanna, who contested election under the PDP, dragged Abbo and INEC before the tribunal challenging the election which brought him back to the Senate.
In his petition marked, EPT/AD/SEN/02/2023, Rev Yohanna, alleged that the election of Senator Abbo was invalid by reasons of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
He averred that Senator Abbo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast during the election, alleging over voting at various polling units, false entries, alteration and cancellation of votes at several polling units.
According to him, some of the alteration and cancellation were not signed by the presiding officers of the polling units, and prayed the tribunal to set aside the election of Senator Abbo.
He also sought for an order of the tribunal to return him (Rev. Amos Yohanna) as the duly elected candidate for Adamawa North Senatorial seat having polled the highest number of lawful votes cast during the exercise.
However, in its ruling, the tribunal dismissed the petition and awarded damages, asking the petitioner to pay N600,000 to Abbo.
Dissatisfied, Rev Yohanna headed to the Court of Appeal which is the final Court for National Assembly Petitions which has ruled in his favour.
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, is believed to have fielded the candidate of his party, and backed him tremendously to defeat Senator Abbo, who left the PDP for the APC following a rift in their relationship, which many analyst believed had been fueled by intra-party power tussle following the electoral victory of duo in 2019.
