Federal High Court orders arrest of ex-INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu

‎The Federal High Court in Osogbo has directed the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest former INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu for contempt of court over failure to comply with a court order to relist the national officers of the Action Alliance party on the commission’s website.
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‎Professor Yakubu, who recently completed his tenure as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was found to have defied a court judgment issued on September 29, 2025, by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi.
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‎The judgment ordered INEC to update its portal by uploading the names of the National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and other National Executive Committee members following the party’s elective convention held on October 7, 2023.
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‎The Action Alliance had taken legal action against INEC and Yakubu for failing to implement this judgment, citing that Omoaje’s name was missing from the commission’s website despite the valid convention supervised by INEC itself. While names of state chairmen and other NEC members were uploaded, the absence of the National Chairman’s name drew the court’s wrath.
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‎The court’s order dated October 7, 2025, instructed that those found in contempt must be prosecuted within seven days. It also imposed a cost of N100,000 on the judgment creditors.
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‎Yakubu’s decade-long service as INEC Chairman from 2015 to 2025 marks him as the longest-serving leader of the commission. May Agbamuche-Mbu currently serves as the Acting Chairman of INEC, with expectations that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will soon appoint a substantive head during an upcoming Security Council meeting on October 9, 2025.
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