Barely hours after exiting office as Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a problem may have begun for Professor Mahmoud Yakubu.
This is because a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest the former INEC Chair for an offence relating to contempt of court.
It is the second time the court had issued the order,the first being when Yakubu was still in office.
A political party, Action Alliance (AA), had instituted a case before the court challenging INEC and Yakubu over their alleged non-compliance with the judgment of the Court delivered by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi in suit number FHC/OS/CS/194/2024.
In the said judgment, the court ordered INEC to put the names of the National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and other members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on the INEC portal.
The court also held that the names of all the State Chairmen of the party be uploaded on the INEC portal.
The court further held that the elective convention of the party held on 7 October, 2023 which produced Omoaje as National Chairman and other NEC members of the party was authentic as it was properly monitored and supervised by INEC officials in accordance with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
However, INEC claimed to have complied with the court judgment, but the party disagreed with the commission, as the name of Omoaje was yet to be uploaded on the commission’s website despite the court orders.
Although the names of the State Chairmen of the party under the leadership of Omoaje and those of the NEC members are already on the INEC portal, Omoaje’s name is yet to be uploaded as of press time, a development that the court frowned at.
The court order, dated 7 October, 2025, and signed by Mr O.M. Kilani, on behalf of the court Registrar read in part: “It is hereby ordered that the Inspector General of Police shall cause the arrest and shall charge the defendant/judgment debtors for contempt and committal proceedings within seven days of this ruling.”
The court also awarded a cost of N100,000 against the judgment creditors.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Yakubu (right) and Egbetokun.
