Court fines Senator Abbo 50 million for assaulting sex toy shop woman

A FCT High Court has fined Nigeria’s youngest senator Elisha Abbo caught on camera physically assaulting a woman at an adult toy shop in Abuja.

Delivering judgment on Monday, the judge found Abbo, representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, guilty and ordered him to pay N50 million to the complainant, Osimibibra Warmate.

Nelson Onuoha, a member of the team of lawyers that filed a civil suit against the lawmaker, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

”Remember that video of a Nigerian senator slapping/assaulting a young lady at a shop? Well justice was served today with the court slamming the sum of N50M against the Senator. I am delighted to have represented that young lady in this suit. We say no more to oppression,” Onuoha said on Twitter.

PremiumTimes in 2019 reported the incident about how Abbo descended on the woman after she pleaded with him not to physically assault the shopowner whom the senator had accused of insulting him. He said the shopowner called him a drunk.

It said it exclusively obtained the video of the assault, which occurred on May 11 — nearly three months after Abbo became a senator-elect and a month before he was sworn-in on June 11.

The attack happened as an armed mobile police officer looked on, and instead made attempt to arrest the victim.

The assault was reported on May 14 at the Maitama Area Command Headquarters on Nile Street, but the police told the victim to go look for Abbo’s telephone number or they would not be able to do anything about it.

He was later arraigned by the police before a magistrate court in Zuba, on a one-count charge for assaulting Warmate.

But despite video evidence of the incident, Abdullahi Ilelah, the magistrate, upheld the no-case submission filed by the lawmaker and dismissed the case.

However, Warmate proceeded to file a fundamental rights suit marked CV/2393/19 before the FCT high court, which has now ruled in her favour.