The Federal High Court in Abuja has served the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, with a contempt proceeding initiated against him by the National Rescue Mission, NRM. The court bailiff, Ayuba Sule, served the Form 48 at the INEC National Headquarters in Abuja, following a ruling by Justice Obiora Egwuatu on June 17.
The Form 48 serves as a notice of the consequences of disobedience of a valid court order and marks the first step in contempt and committal proceedings. Despite officials at the INEC headquarters declining to accept the service, the bailiff dropped the document at the legal department.
The NRM had approached the court alleging that INEC and its Chairman spurned a court order directing them to accept the outcome of an emergency convention that produced the Chief Edozie Njoku-led executives of the party. The court granted an order for substituted service of the documents on the INEC Chairman after an ex parte motion was brought before it.
The case has been adjourned till July 15 for mention. This development is not the first contempt suit filed against the INEC Chairman, as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, also filed a similar suit against him for failing to investigate electoral offenses committed during the 2023 general election.
