"Justice delayed is justice denied," Senator Abbo says as he eats with prison inmates

Senator Elisha Abbo (Adamawa North - PDP) has condemned the long wait in the judicial process that traps accused persons in prisons while they await trials in court.

While spending the New Year with hundreds of inmates at the Nigerian Correctional Service in Yola, Adamawa, the senator said he was glad to share meals with the prisoners whom he said should not be neglected.

Abbo said his action is to show that inmates should not be forgotten as they're not the worst people and are just regular human beings "unfortunate of being where they are today".

The senator also revealed that he has made arrangements with prison officials to secure the freedom of some inmates who haven't been able to pay their fines.

He said, "We have hundreds and hundreds of inmates that are awaiting trial for years, I don't think that is okay. Justice delayed is justice denied.

"And there are some others who have shown genuine repentance, they are already convicted.

"I have finished arrangement with the prison authorities so that they can compile their names for me and let us see what I can do.

"Those that I can pay their fines in line with the constitution of Nigeria so that they can be freed."

Abbo himself has an ongoing brush with the law for a shocking assault he committed last year.

The emergence of a video that captured the 41-year-old assaulting a woman, Warmate Osimibibra, led to widespread outrage in July 2019.

The incident happened in May 2019, just a month before Abbo was sworn in as a senator of the 9th Senate.

Many Nigerians called for the lawmaker to be suspended by the Senate, and prosecuted in court.

Despite initial defiance, the lawmaker issued a very public, teary-eyed apology to his victim and asked her, and Nigerians, for forgiveness days after the video's emergence.

However, he pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal use of force and criminal assault when he was arraigned before a Chief Magistrates' Court in Abuja.

After admitting three documents as exhibits against him during a November 2019 hearing, the lawmaker's trial continues on January 9.

The Senate also set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the incident and report back in two weeks, but the probe has since stalled.

Since the controversy, Abbo has been honoured with a "Beacon of Hope" award at the Adamawa Celebrities and Achievers Awards (ACAA), and an "ICON at Democracy" award by the Intercommunity Awareness for Change and Development Initiative (IACDI).