Justice Mohammed Madugu of High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Bwari has fixed September 14, for definite hearing of a motion seeking an order of court committing the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, to prison.
The committal charge emanated from a suit marked: FCT/HC/CV/4068/2023), filed in April 2023, by Otunba Camaru Lateef Ogidan (National Vice Chairman, South West Geopolitical Zone, APGA) and Mustapha Rabiu (National Welfare Officer), who emerged at the Owerri Convention of May 31, 2019, under the leadership of Chief Edozie Njoku.
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Chief Victor Oye is the 1st Respondent, while the Chairman of INEC is the 2nd Respondent in the suit.
Both respondents are standing trial for disobeying a Supreme Court Judgment of March 24, 2023, which declared Chief Njoku as the rightful National Chairman of APGA 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 suit.
Despite the Court injunction ordering Oye, his privies and assigns not to call any meeting, hold any campaign or convention in the name of the Party, Oye flaunted the Court’s order by holding NEC meeting and Convention.
The injunction also ordered Oye to stop parading himself as the National Chairman of APGA.
On his part, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had continued to recognize Oye that was not rightfully declared as National Chairman of APGA as reaffirmed and reconfirmed by the Supreme Court.
By ignoring the court order, INEC monitored the illegal convention at Awka and pasted the name of one Mr. Sylvester Ezeokenwa as the party’s National Chairman, and went on to field names of purported candidates for the party for the coming governorship elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa States.
However, Justice Madugu fixed the date on Monday, after Michael Ajara, counsel for the Plaintiff/Applicants informed him that the motion was over riped for hearing having been served on INEC Chairman on July 13, which the court verified from it’s 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 to verify if he was the one that signed the CTC and he admitted that he did.
But, when the bailiff Mr. Musa, was called to produce the orginal copy of the proof of service which was meant to be in the Judge’s file, he admitted that he removed the original copy from the file.
This generated uproar in the Court, leaving the Judge with no other option other than to adjourn Oye’s matter for September 28, 2023.
