INEC: Court orders IGP Egbetokun to arrest Yakubu

A federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, yesterday, issued a fresh order to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, for contempt of court.

To deepen his woes, the National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Peter Ameh, accused Yakubu of damaging Nigeria’s multi-party democracy during his 10-year tenure at the commission, while the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said he left behind a weak electoral commission despite introducing significant reforms.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) urged President Bola Tinubu not to appoint his party’s loyalist as Yakubu’s successor, cautioning that such a move would threaten the fragile gains made in Nigeria’s electoral system and compromise the 2027 general elections.

The Action Alliance (AA) had instituted a case before the Osogbo court challenging INEC and Yakubu over the commission’s non-compliance with the judgment delivered by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi in suit number FHC/OS/CS/194/2024.

The court had, in the said judgment, ordered INEC to put the names of the National Chairman of AA, Adekunle Omoaje, and other members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on the INEC portal.

It held that the elective convention of AA on October 7, 2023, which resulted in Omoaje being elected as national chairman and other NEC members, was authentic, as it was properly monitored and supervised by officials of INEC in accordance with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.

Although INEC claimed to have complied with the court judgment, the party disagreed with the commission, as the name of Omoaje had yet to be uploaded on the commission’s website

The court order signed by Mr O.M. Kilani, on behalf of the Court Registrar, reads: “It is hereby ordered that the IGP shall cause the arrest and shall charge the defendant/judgment debtors for contempt and committal proceedings within seven days of this ruling.” It also awarded a cost of N100,000 against the judgment creditors.

SPEAKING on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ yesterday, Ameh alleged Yakubu’s leadership was characterised by high-handedness, disregard for opposition parties, and a failure to uphold transparency in the electoral process.

Ameh said: “Under Yakubu, the opposition suffered. He was not accommodating when it came to opposition or multi-party democracy; all he wanted was to crush it. The high-handedness was much.”

According to him, Yakubu’s administration had failed to build institutional capacity within INEC, claiming that the commission became elitist and detached from its core mandate. He further criticised the former INEC chairman for mismanaging Nigeria’s electoral cycles and eroding public trust.

“The conduct of the 2023 general elections is a bitter taste in everybody’s mouth; that is what he will be remembered for,” he added. Ameh also faulted Yakubu for failing to take responsibility after the technical glitches that marred the 2023 polls.

Yakubu handed over to the commission’s oldest serving National Commissioner, May Agbamuche-Mbu, as the Acting National Chairman.
ON Channels Television’s breakfast programme, ‘The Morning Brief’, yesterday, Itodo said while Yakubu made remarkable contributions to the electoral process, political interference weakened the commission’s independence.

“You cannot wish away that Yakubu introduced remarkable reforms. We are yet, as a country, to maximise the utility and potential of those reforms because of the actions of our politicians,” he said. “But I think that one thing that he leaves behind, to a large extent, is a weak INEC; weak to the extent that there is a lot of political interference with the functions of INEC.”

HURIWA commended Yakubu for his decade-long tenure, which it described as transformative and institutionally progressive.

In a statement yesterday by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said under Yakubu’s leadership, INEC underwent significant modernisation that strengthened its operational integrity and public transparency. It cited the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) as two landmark innovations that redefined Nigeria’s electoral process by reducing human interference, curbing manipulation and allowing citizens to independently verify results from polling units across the country.

HURIWA called on civil society organisations, the media, professional bodies and international partners to remain vigilant and insist on a transparent and merit-based selection process for the new INEC chairman. It urged the National Assembly to strengthen legal and institutional frameworks that safeguard INEC’s independence, including provisions that prevent the executive from unilaterally imposing leadership on the commission.