Nigeria’s youngest senator, Elisha Abbo, has been caught on camera physically assaulting a woman at an adult toy shop in Abuja. According to Premium T
Nigeria’s youngest senator, Elisha Abbo, has been caught on camera physically assaulting a woman at an adult toy shop in Abuja. According to Premium Times, Elisha Abbo, representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, descended on the woman after she pleaded with him not to physically assault the shop owner whom the senator had accused of insulting him. He said the shop owner called him a drunk.
The assault occurred on May 11, nearly three months after Elisha Abbo became a senator-elect and a month before he was sworn-in on June 11 and it 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.
The victim of the assault and the storeowner declined comments for this story, saying they were afraid there could be a violent backlash from the senator. The victim’s lawyer also declined comment. But witnesses and other sources familiar with the matter, gave their accounts of what happened. They however, all declined to be identified, citing fears for their safety.
Mr Abbo, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had entered the shop at about 6:00 p.m. on May 11, a Saturday. The senator walked in with three young women to purchase adult toys. But shortly after they began shopping for the toys, one of the three girls brought in by Abbo started throwing up. She vomited multiple times, prompting the shop owner to remark that the woman should have vomited outside and not inside her shop, especially since she was not a child.
Abbo, who was said to have been agitated by the sudden illness of one of his girls, accused the shop owner of poisoning the store’s air conditioner. The shop owner’s argument that if the airconditioner had been contaminated others in the shop would have also taken ill, further angered Abbo, and the two began exchanging words over the matter.
In the first five minutes of the 10-minute video, Abbo is seen sitting on a yellow power generator near the entrance of the shop. He could be heard within this time making calls and asking some people where they were and how close they were. Just before the first-half of the video, an armed police officer walked in. Abbo explained to the officer in Hausa that the woman insulted him and that he had called the assistant inspector-general (AIG) over the matter, who then assured him that he would call the police commissioner to call the Maitama Area Command.
He also said he was disappointed in the shop owner, with whom he said he had been friends for five years. 41-year-old Abbo, told the police officer to take the shop owner away. The shop owner quickly called her father to inform him that Abbo had called the police over the matter and that she was about to be taken away. Abbo asked the shop owner to stop the call because he was talking to her, a demand the woman refused to accede to. Another man could be seen coming from behind the police officer to snatch the shop owner’s phone from her.
Next, the shop owner’s friend who had been standing nearby tried to intervene by pleading with the second man to take things easy. Abbo swiftly descended on the shop owner’s friend, saying she was very stupid and slapped her repeatedly, including directly on the eyes. The senator then demanded that the two women should be taken to the police station. He repeatedly told the shop owner that he was disappointed in her for calling him a drunk, and that he would have harmed her more and closed down the shop but for their friendship.
The assaulted woman, who is nursing a child, was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for eye inflammation and other injuries she sustained during the attack. Elisha Abbo did not cover the medical bill. Neither did he show sympathy or reach out to the woman to apologise. Instead, he was said to have returned to the shop to see whether a CCTV footage of the incident existed. Elisha Abbo was told that the CCTV in the shop was not functioning. He was said to have been very worried about the incident, threatening to deal with them if the footage of his violence ever surfaced.
The victim and her lawyer reported the matter at the Maitama Area Command since May 14, but the police have continued to stall, saying they did not know how to contact Elisha Abbo. The victim and her lawyer were said to have demanded apology from Abbo. They also want him to settle the medical bill and desist from further threats of physical harm against the woman. They also wanted a criminal investigation and possible prosecution of Abbo for his action.
The police commissioner in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Ciroma, said the matter had not been escalated to him as of Tuesday morning. He said he would like to receive the victim at his office urgently to explore a resolution of the case.
