A Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, for contempt of court.
The order, issued by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi and signed by the court registrar’s representative, O.M. Kilani, followed INEC’s alleged failure to comply with a previous judgment compelling the commission to recognise Adekunle Omoaje as the authentic National Chairman of the Action Alliance (AA).
Despite INEC’s claims of compliance, the AA argued that Omoaje’s name was still missing from the commission’s official website. The court further awarded N100,000 in costs against the commission.
The ruling deepens Yakubu’s troubles as critics accuse him of damaging Nigeria’s democracy during his decade-long tenure. Speaking on Channels TV, Peter Ameh, National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), alleged that his leadership was marked by “high-handedness, disregard for opposition parties, and a lack of transparency.”
“Under Yakubu, opposition suffered. He wanted to crush multi-party democracy,” Ameh said, claiming the former INEC boss eroded public trust and failed to build institutional capacity.
Similarly, Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, said the ex-electoral umpire left behind “a weak electoral commission,” citing persistent political interference that undermined INEC’s independence.
“You cannot ignore Yakubu’s reforms, like BVAS and IReV, but political interference diluted their impact,” Itodo said on Channels TV.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) praised Yakubu’s tenure as “transformative,” lauding the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) for enhancing electoral transparency.
However, HURIWA urged President Bola Tinubu not to appoint a political loyalist as Yakubu’s successor, warning that such a move could endanger Nigeria’s fragile democratic gains ahead of the 2027 elections.
Yakubu has since handed over to the commission’s oldest-serving National Commissioner, May Agbamuche-Mbu, who is now the Acting INEC Chairperson.
