Barely 24 hours after bowing out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu has been ordered arrested by the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State.
Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi, who presided over the matter, directed the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to apprehend the former INEC boss for alleged contempt of court.
The order came just hours after Yakubu’s tenure as INEC chairman officially ended.
The case, instituted by the Action Alliance (AA), accused INEC and its then chairman of disobeying a subsisting judgment of the court in suit number FHC/OS/CS/194/2024.
In that judgment, Justice Demi-Ajayi had ordered INEC to upload the names of the party’s National Chairman, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and other members of its National Executive Committee (NEC) onto the commission’s official portal.
The court further affirmed the validity of the AA’s elective convention held on October 7, 2023, which produced Omoaje and other NEC members. The convention, the court ruled, was duly monitored and supervised by INEC officials in accordance with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
In addition, the court ordered that the names of all state chairmen of the Action Alliance be reflected on the INEC portal.
Justice Demi-Ajayi also awarded a ₦100,000 cost against the judgment creditors
