Justice Mohammed Madugu, sitting in the Bwari division of the FCT high court, has fixed tomorrow for a definite hearing of a motion seeking to commit the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, to prison.
A faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) accused Yakubu of publishing illegal governorship candidates for the party in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states.
The committal charge is a sequel to a suit marked FCT/HC/CV/4068/2023), filed in April 2023, by Otunba Camaru Lateef Ogidan (national vice chairman, South West) and Mustapha Rabiu (national welfare officer), who emerged at the Owerri Convention of May 31, 2019, under the leadership of Edozie Njoku, party national chairman.
The court had on June 6 granted the plea of the plaintiffs pursuant to Section 287 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that any Court of record can enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court and consequently enforce the Supreme Court Judgment of March 24, 2023, stating clearly that Chief Victor Oye has no right whatsoever to parade himself as the National Chairman of APGA.
In the suit, Victor Oye is the first Respondent, while the Chairman of INEC is the second respondent.
Both respondents are standing trial for disobeying the Supreme Court judgment of March 24, 2023, which allegedly declared Chief Njoku the rightful national chairman.
However, the committal charges on the INEC chairman were due to his refusal to recognize Njoku as the rightful national chairman of APGA and going ahead to publish illegal names of governorship candidates for APGA for the coming elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states, which did not emanate from Njoku.
The contempt charges on Oye and Prof. Yakubu were for flaunting and ignoring the Court’s interim injunction on May 10, 2023, which ordered parties in the suit to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the substantive suit comes up on September 28, 2023.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu continued to recognize Oye as the National Chairman of APGA as against the court order. He also published the name of one Sylvester Ezeokonwa, who was a product of an alleged illegal convention held at Awka.
Michael Ajara, counsel for the Plaintiff/Applicants, informed the Court that the motion for the committal of Prof. Yakubu to prison was ripped for hearing, having been served on INEC Chairman on July 13, 2023, which the court verified from its records.
Before the court fixed the hearing date, it discovered that the original copy of the proof of service of the committal charge on Victor Oye had disappeared from the Judge’s file, while that of his fellow contemnor, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was in the file. Strangely, Ajara was having a CTC of the proof of service on Oye and Mahmood.
In a bid to unravel the mix-up, the Judge called the attention of the Chief Registrar, Joseph Igboyi, to verify if he was the one who signed the CTC, and he admitted that he did.
When the bailiff, Musa Abdulwahab, was called to produce the original copy of the proof of service, which was meant to be in the Judge’s file, he admitted that he had removed the original copy from the file. Musa never provided a reason for removing the proof of service from the judge’s file.
This generated uproar in the Court, leaving the Judge with no option other than to adjourn Oye’s matter for September 28.
