INEC boss appeals arrest order
News & Trends •
he noted that the warrant of arrest against him was a nullity because none of the parties in the contempt case applied for issuance of a bench warrant except the judge who reportedly did so on his own1 prof. mahmoud yakubu the chairman of the independent national electoral commission inec has asked the court of appeal to vacate the arrest order issued against him1 justice stephen pam of the federal high court in the nations capital had issued the warrant of arrest against yakubu on wednesday for allegedly disobeying court orders1 in the notice of appeal the inec chairman claimed that justice pam acted in bad faith in the issuance of the arrest order1 he explained that he had already filed a pending appeal against the order while the attention of the judge was drawn to the appeal1 yakubu submitted among other claims that up till date no order was enrolled and served on him for his personal appearance in court as required by the law1 he made the request in an appeal filed on thursday in abuja through his lead counsel and senior advocate of nigeria mr adegboyega awomolo1 the inec boss stressed that he has not disobeyed any court order since he was not present before the court when the alleged order directing his personal presence was made1 he added that justice pam who has no jurisdiction to punish him for the alleged disobedience of court order committed ex-facie curie outside the court1 yakubu said he was no longer a contemnor at the federal high court under the strength of his appeal lodged at the court of appeal challenging the justification of the contempt charge against him1 he argued that the trial court breached section 36 of the 1999 constitution by striking out his motion without hearing it thereby denying him his right to fair hearing in the determination on the merit of his application1 justice pam issued a bench warrant against the inec boss on wednesday following his alleged failure to appear before the court1 the inec boss was to defend himself in the contempt charge brought against him by the peoples democratic party pdp in anambra state1