Following the circulation of reports claiming that a Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, ordered the arrest of its immediate past chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed the publications as misleading and inaccurate.
In a statement on Thursday, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, said the reports misrepresented the facts of the case and ignored INEC’s subsequent actions showing compliance with the court’s earlier judgment.
Olumekun clarified that the matter was between the Action Alliance (AA) and INEC as a corporate entity, not an individual, stressing that the court did not issue a fresh arrest order against Yakubu as suggested in the reports.
“The misleading reports omitted the commission’s response and wrongly portrayed a corporate judicial matter as a personal one. The court made no new pronouncement after September 29, 2025,” he said.
He explained that INEC had, on October 6, 2025, within the court’s deadline, filed all required legal documents to demonstrate compliance with the ruling that recognised the AA executive elected in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in October 2023.
Olumekun added that INEC tendered its website dashboard as evidence, showing that the commission had listed the recognised executives. When the judgment creditors complained of partial compliance for excluding the name of AA’s former chairman, Rufai Omoaje, INEC presented a copy of his pending appeal at the Supreme Court challenging his removal.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal that removed Omoaje remains valid and subsisting. It would therefore be improper for INEC to list his name while that judgment stands,” the statement read.
INEC reaffirmed its commitment to upholding the rule of law and urged media organisations to verify judicial developments before publication to avoid misinforming the public.
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