The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), to appear before it on March 10 to answer a contempt charge brought against him by the National Rescue Mission.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu fixed the date on Wednesday after counsel to INEC, M.S. Bawa, sought an adjournment to enable him to secure the presence of the commission’s chairman in court.
Bawa told the court that Amupitan was unable to attend proceedings due to an emergency.
He further disclosed that a counter-affidavit had been filed challenging the competence of the contempt charge and urging the court to quash it.
However, counsel to the NRM, Oladimeji Ekengba, insisted that the INEC chairman ought to have been physically present in court, stressing that contempt proceedings required the alleged contemnor to be in the dock.
“My Lord, this is a contempt charge that requires the defendant to be present in the dock while the proceedings are ongoing. We wonder why he is not here today,” Ekengba submitted.
Before adjourning the matter, Justice Egwuatu directed that a fresh hearing notice be served on the INEC chairman. The court had earlier granted an order for substituted service of the contempt processes on him.
Specifically, the court ordered that Form 48 — a notice warning of the consequences of disobeying a court order — be served on the chairman by delivering it to any staff member at the commission’s national headquarters.
The order followed an ex parte motion filed by the NRM. The party alleged that INEC and its chairman disobeyed a mandamus order issued by the court on March 5, 2025, which directed the commission to accept the outcome of an emergency convention that produced the Chief Edozie Njoku-led executive committee of the party.
In an affidavit supporting the motion, the NRM maintained that INEC was fully aware of both the January 17, 2025 emergency convention and the court’s judgment, noting that the commission’s counsel was present when the ruling was delivered.
The party stated that despite being served with the enrolled order of the judgment, INEC had allegedly failed to comply.
“In order not to reduce this Honourable Court to a toothless bulldog, and also to enhance the cause of justice, the Registrar of this Honourable Court on the application of the Judgment Creditor, issued Form 48 to be served on the Chairman of the Respondent in order for him to show cause why he should not be committed to prison for failing to comply with the judgment,” the affidavit read in part.
National officers of the NRM, led by Chief Edozie Njoku, were present in court during Wednesday’s proceedings.
Speaking to journalists after the adjournment, Njoku expressed optimism that the INEC chairman would comply with the subsisting judgment by recognising the party’s leadership as affirmed by the court.
The matter was adjourned till March 10 for the INEC chairman to appear and for further proceedings in the contempt charge.
Punch