The Senate, during its Wednesday morning session, administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance to Reverend Amos Yohanna, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), officially designating him as the Senator representing Adamawa North.
Yohanna assumed the position following the removal of Senator Elisha Abbo by the Appeal Court.
The Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, conducted the swearing-in ceremony, following the directive of the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who presided over the session.
With the induction of Yohanna, the distribution of seats in the 10th National Assembly stands as follows: APC – 59 Senators, PDP – 37, LP – 8, NNPP – 2, SDP – 2, and APGA – 1.
In the election, held on February 27, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Abbo, representing the APC, as the winner with 71,927 votes, defeating PDP’s Amos Yohanna, who secured 61,895 votes.
Dissatisfied with the election outcome, the PDP and Yohanna contested the results before the tribunal.
In his petition, Yohanna alleged irregularities and corrupt practices during the election, including over-voting, false entries, alteration, and cancellation of votes at various polling units.
He also claimed that the presiding officers of the polling units did not correctly authenticate some alterations and cancellations.
Yohanna sought the nullification of Senator Abbo’s election and requested the tribunal to declare him as the validly elected candidate for the Adamawa North Senatorial seat, given that he had received the highest number of lawful votes cast during the election.
However, the tribunal dismissed Yohanna’s petition and ordered him to pay damages of N600,000 to Senator Abbo. Dissatisfied with this decision, Yohanna escalated the matter to the Court of Appeal, which now ruled in his favour.
