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INEC Chairman Shuns Court Summons

Published

8 years ago

July 10, 2018

Eric

Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, failed to honour a court order directing him to appear in court or risk going to jail.

Justice Stephen Pam of the Taraba division of the Federal High Court but sitting in Abuja on the directives of the Chief Judge of the court gave the order on July 5.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to Yakubu, Mr Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) told the court that it was the right of a respondent to decide if he wanted to be heard during vacation.

Awomolo said that he had not consented to his case been heard during the court’s vacation.
“There is also no affidavit of urgency stating that the case needs to be urgently heard. I also want to notify the court that I have filed an appeal against the ruling.

” I have also filed an application praying further hearing to be stopped until the appeal is heard and determined by the Court of Appeal.”

The senior lawyer added that in any case, he was not in the right frame of mind to argue the matter because he had lost his mother and wanted to go and bury her.

Mr Chris Uche, (SAN) counsel to the other party Mr Ejike Oguebego, however, said that the chief judge in the exercise of his administrative discretion, agreed to having the matter heard during the vacation.

“Order 46(5) of the court rules that govern vacation has two arms and it makes room for a case to be heard during vacation except on a Sunday or public holiday.

”Where the action is urgent or where the parties apply, and in this case, given the nature of the case, the chief judge applied his administrative discretion in our favour.

“This is a preelection matter which started since 2014, what could be more urgent,” he wondered.

Justice Pam in a short ruling said that court orders must be obeyed and counsel must ensure that their clients obeyed them.

“Counsel must desist from making their clients disregard orders of court. Consistent disregard of orders of court amount to contempt of court.

”An applicant cannot while continuing to be in contempt of court, seek the court’s favour.”
According to the judge, the fiat issued by the chief judge to hear this matter during vacation is still subsisting and the case will go on during the vacation.

“The contemnor must appear in person before this court on the next adjourned date.”
He adjourned the matter until Aug. 1 to allow Awomolo go and bury his mother.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court had in Jan. 2016 declared the list of candidates submitted by the Ken Emekayi led faction of the Anambra PDP, illegal.

That pronouncement emanated from a suit filed by the Ejike Oguebego faction on behalf of themselves and others including Mr Chris Uba.

The suit was for the apex court to determine who were the legal and validly nominated candidates of the party to stand for the last general elections for the party in the state.

Going by the ruling, the list of nominated party candidates in the 2015 general election from the Oguebego-led executive of the Anambra PDP was the only one to be recognised by INEC.

In the list, Chris Uba, John Emeka and Annie Okonkwo were said to be the duly nominated senatorial candidates for Anambra South, Central and North in the March 28, 2015 general election.
Similarly, Justice John Tsoho of a Federal High Court, Abuja, had in 2017 ordered INEC and its chairman to appear before it to answer to contempt proceedings pending against them.

Justice Tsoho gave the order in his ruling on arguments on whether or not the physical presence of INEC and its chairman was necessary for the court to determine the contempt proceedings.

The proceedings were initiated against them by Oguebego and Chuks Okoye – Chairman and Legal Adviser of PDP in Anambra.

Featured

Akume Leads Nigeria’s Delegation to Jesse Jackson’s Funeral in US

Published

46 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has approved a five-person delegation to represent Nigeria at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist and former presidential candidate who died at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago.

Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is the leader of the delegation, according to a press statement from the Presidency on Wednesday.

Other members are the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa; the Special Presidential Envoy for Global and Pan-African Affairs, Brian Browne; and the Senior Special Assistant, Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.

The delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.

In an earlier tribute, President Tinubu described Reverend Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa.

“He was a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa. He played a leading role in the campaign for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress leaders. He won critical support for sanctions against the then apartheid government,” President Tinubu wrote.

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Tinubu Nominates Oyedele As Minister of State for Finance, Moves Anite-Uzoka to Budget Ministry

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has announced that “President Bola Tinubu has nominated Taiwo Oyedele as the minister of state for finance, replacing Doris Anite-Uzoka.

“Mrs Anite-Uzoka will now move to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as the Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.

“President Tinubu has today conveyed the nomination of Mr Oyedele to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“Until President Tinubu nominated him as a minister, Mr Oyedele from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

“Mr Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

“He attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accountancy and finance. He attended Oxford Brookes University and earned a BSc in applied accounting.

“He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Mr Oyedele spent 22 years of his working career at PwC, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

“Mr Oyedele is also a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.”

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Defection: Atiku’s Son, Adamu, Resigns As Adamawa Commissioner

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Adamu Abubakar, the first son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has resigned as Adamawa State’s commissioner for works and energy development, days after Governor Ahmadu Fintiri defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Abubakar’s resignation letter, dated 2 March 2026, was addressed to the governor through the Secretary to the State Government. He gave no reason for his departure.

The timing is pointed. Fintiri announced his defection to the APC in a statewide broadcast last Friday, saying his cabinet and the PDP’s state structure had moved with him. Within 24 hours, 22 commissioners and special advisers publicly announced they were following suit. Abubakar, whose father remains one of the PDP’s most prominent national figures, was not among them.

In a statement issued Monday night, Abubakar’s media aide Abdulaziz Jauro said the former commissioner thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged continued loyalty to the administration’s developmental agenda. He also expressed gratitude to his father “for granting him the moral support and blessing to serve the people of Adamawa State” — a line that, read in context, suggests Atiku was consulted on the decision.

Abubakar said his resignation was not a withdrawal from public life. “This does not mark the end of his commitment to public service,” the statement read, “but rather the beginning of new avenues for developmental collaboration.”

The resignation leaves unresolved the question of whether it reflects a political break with the governor over his defection or a personal decision unconnected to the broader party realignment now reshaping Adamawa’s political landscape.