A serving lawmaker, Senator Elisha Abbo, has attracted criticisms from a large section of Nigerians after being caught on video slapping a nursing mother repeatedly at a sex toy shop in Abuja.
Abbo, who defeated the respected Senator Binta Garba, to emerge as the winner of the Adamawa North senatorial district, was seen assaulting the woman in a video posted by Premium Times
The assault, which reportedly occurred on May 11, 2019, was done in the presence of an armed policeman who rather than assist the victim, arrested her.
Abbo, who is the youngest senator in the country, had entered the shop around 6pm 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 Mr 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 be agitated by the sudden illness of one of his girls, was said to have accused the shop owner of poisoning the store’s air conditioner.
The shop owner’s argument that if the air conditioner had been contaminated others in the shop would have also taken ill was said to have angered Abbo, and the two began exchanging words over the matter.
The senator was said to have called a policeman who he then ordered to arrest the shop owner.
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.
The shop owner’s friend who had been standing nearby tried to intervene by pleading with the second man to take things easy but was slapped repeatedly by the lawmaker.
Meanwhile, the video has sparked outrage on social media.
On Twitter, the lawmaker is trending under #SenatorElishaAbbo.
Mr. Marcus tweeted, “You can see the motor park behaviour of a so-called Senator Elisha Abbo.
Another Twitter user, Confidence Jonah, expressed shock that a policeman was complicit in the assault.
For Jack Obinyan, Abbo must be indefinitely suspended from the 9th National Assembly and prosecuted with immediate effect.
Muhd El-Bonga Ibrahim tweeted, “These are the kind of people we elect as lawmakers- shamelessly slapping a sales employee multiple times. This is an embarrassment not only to Senator Elisha Abbo but the Senate as an institution and he is currently the youngest. The committee on ethics needs to act.”
Attempts to speak with the senator proved abortive as he rejected all calls put through to his phone while a text message was not responded to as of press time.
