The Inspector General of Police has filed nine counts of criminal charges bordering on rape and molestation of a minor against Elisha Abbo, who represented the Adamawa North Senatorial District until October 2023, when the appellate court sacked him.
The police filed the charges at the Abuja High Court on October 30, after findings from an investigation showed that “there is need to test the case in court,” despite Mr Abbo’s repeated denials.
At issue was the account of a 13-year-old JSS3 girl who alleged that Mr Abbo poured a white substance on her vagina before slathering baby oil all over her pubic region and anus without her consent. She told Peoples Gazette that Mr Abbo rubbed his penis all over her vagina before he “entered” her.
The minor said the incident occurred on June 29, a Sunday, when her elder sister’s friend, Nafisa Chigli, visited her home in Gwarimpa and asked her to accompany her to a relative’s house.
Initially, the minor said she declined to go but later gave in after Miss Chigli’s relentless persuasion. They booked a ride to a residence in Katampe Extension, where Mr Abbo welcomed them and allegedly collected their phones.
She alleged that the lawmaker asked Miss Chigli to give them some privacy before molesting her. Miss Chigli, 18, was asked to wait in the bathroom adjoining Mr Abbo’s bedroom.
According to the victim, Mr Abbo forcefully undressed her after Miss Chigli exited the room. She was wearing a hijab, a kimono, and a two-piece outfit—all of which she claimed the senator removed.
The victim tearfully told The Gazette that Mr Abbo smothered her shivering and exposed body with unwanted kisses while ignoring her cries to “please, stop,” and that the more she begged and struggled, the angrier the former lawmaker became.
When asked if he penetrated her anus, she replied in the negative, asserting, “He did not enter,” as was done to her vagina. She said he only dripped the baby oil on her anal region and rubbed his penis on it against her protests.
Mr Abbo, according to the victim, poured a white substance on her vagina and muttered strange words.
“When I kept telling him to stop, he said I should keep quiet and call him daddy,” she said, adding that all her attempts to push him off of her only enraged him as he threatened to “go deeper and hurt me” if she continued to fight him.
“He was on me and I was trying to like …push him, but he kept telling me that if I removed his hand, he would go deeper and hurt me,” the victim told The Gazette in tears. “After a while, he was jerking off, and something white was coming out of him.”
The minor alleged Mr Abbo raped her and threatened to kill her and her family members if she spoke to anyone about the incident.
The minor’s account and the police findings formed the basis for the charges levelled against Mr Abbo, who strongly denied them but must now prove his innocence in court.
Mr Abbo claimed the victim accompanied his relative to his house and that they both did not stay for long. He admitted sending the minor N50,000 for “ice cream” through the account of her father’s driver. He said he also sent the same amount to Miss Chigli.
The former senator accused the duo of stealing his wife’s gold earrings and necklace on June 30, a day after Miss Chigli and the minor visited, but they denied it. Mr Abbo reported the matter at the Dawaki Police Station on July 16.
The senator later transferred N200,000 to the minor after she informed him of her birthday party. The police reviewed his WhatsApp chats and found the minor’s message asking for money to celebrate her 14th birthday.
Mr Abbo said Zainab Mohammed, the minor’s mother, had begun tarnishing his image with false allegations and that she demanded N5 million to stop the accusations. He claimed he declined because releasing the funds would mean he was guilty.
He explained his refusal stung Ms Mohammed, who has since escalated the accusations to the police.
The Force Criminal Investigation Department investigating the matter collected Mr Abbo’s Tecno Spark 40 phone to run forensic tests and stated that although there were nude pictures of adults downloaded from the Internet on his phone, none belonged to the minor as claimed by Ms Mohammed and former Senator Bima, the victim’s father.
