The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has been asked to be committed to prison for allegedly disobeying a court order, and an FCT High Court in Bwari has set Thursday, September 14, for a formal hearing on the matter.
After receiving a committal charge from a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Ajara and designated FCT/HC/CV/4068/2023, Justice Mohammed Madugu set the date.
Otunba Camaru Lateef Ogidan and Mustapha Rabiu are the plaintiffs, and Chief Victor Oye and Prof. Yakubu are the first and second respondents, respectively.
Under the direction of Chief Edozie Njoku, the party’s national chairman, Messrs. Ogidan and Rabiu were elected at the Owerri Convention on May 31, 2019, as the National Vice Chairman, South West Geopolitical Zone, and National Welfare Officer, respectively, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
Oye and Mahmood were accused in the application of disobeying and disregarding the court’s interim injunction from May 10 that directed the parties to the suit to maintain the status quo ante bellum until the outcome of the substantive suit, which was set for September 28, and which was alleged to have been flouted and disregarded by the two.
According to allegations, Mr. Yakubu refused to acknowledge Chief Njoku as the legitimate national chairman of the APGA and instead published the names of governorship candidates for the APGA who did not originate from Njoku for the Nov. 11 elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa.
It was claimed that, in violation of the court’s decision, INEC’s director continued to identify Oye as the national chairman of APGA.
According to the motion, Oye also convened a National Executive Council, or NEC, meeting of the party in violation of the court’s order, which forbade him from convening any meetings or holding any campaigns or conventions in the party’s name.
Chief Victor Oye was also told to quit posing as the APGA’s national chairman by the injunction, it stated.
When the case was called on Monday, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Ajara, informed the court that the application was ripe for hearing and had been delivered to the INEC chairman on July 13, which the court was able to confirm using its records.
While Ajara had certified true copies, or CTCs, of the documents for the two respondents, it was puzzling that a copy of the proof of service of the contempt proceedings against Oye could not be found in the court file.
The judge called Chief Registrar Joseph Igboyi’s attention to see if he was the one who signed the CTC in an effort to sort out the confusion, and he acknowledged that he was.
The bailiff, Musa Abdulwahab, revealed that he had taken the original copy out of the judge’s file when he was asked to present the proof of service that was supposed to be in the file.
The fact that Mr. Musa did not explain why he withdrew the proof of service from the court file gave rise to a contentious debate before the court.
So, Oye’s case was postponed till September 28 for a hearing by Justice Madugu.
