Senator Abbo Loses Appeal, Ordered to Pay N50 Million for Assaulting Woman
The N50 million in damages against Senator Elisha Abbo for attacking a woman, Ms. Osimibibra Warmate, in an Abuja sex toy store has been upheld by the Court of Appeal’s Abuja Division.
The politician who represented Adamawa North was ordered by a Federal Capital Territory High Court to pay damages for the incident that took place in 2019.
Senator Abbo asked the appeal court to overturn the decision after being dissatisfied with the judgment.
However, the appeal was rejected by the appellate court in a unanimous ruling by a three-member panel chaired by Justice Jamilu Tukur.
The panel claimed there was no justification to overturn the high court’s decision, which was rendered on September 29, 2020, in response to a basic right enforcement lawsuit brought by Ms. Warmate.
The trial justice’s decision to sustain Ms. Warmate’s claim and grant damages against the lawmaker, according to the appellate court, was correct.
It rejected the appellant’s claim that the lawsuit that resulted in the damages award against him was improperly filed.
The appellate court criticized Senator Abbo’s assertion that Ms. Warmate’s allegations that he slapped her, yanked her hair, and dragged her out of the sex toy shop were just a case of simple assault and not rights violation, while also rejecting his claim that he was denied a fair hearing.
In addition to affirming the N50 million in damages against the Appellant, the court also decided all five of the points brought in the appeal, awarding Ms. Warmate another N500,000.
The appellate court determined that Senator Abbo’s appeal, with the file number CA/ABJ/945/2020, lacked any merit in its lead judgment, which was given by Danlami Senchi.
“The decision of the trial court in the award of N50m against the Appellant and in favour of the Respondent was proper,” Justice Senchi held, adding that going by the quality of evidence that was presented by Ms Warmate, including a medical report and video recordings of the incident, the decision of the trial court could not be tampered with.
“The conduct of the Appellant is sufficiently outrageous to merit the punishment as the facts of the case disclosed flagrant disobedience of the law, especially that the Appellant is an elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the court held.
