Obey Order On AA In Six Days, Court Directs INEC, Yakubu

The Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its national chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, up to 14th July, 2025 to obey its earlier judgment which directed the commission to upload the name of Hon. Adekunle Rufai Omoaje as the national chairman of the Action Alliance (AA) on its official portal or face severe consequences.

The court also reaffirmed its earlier judgment that Hon. Omoaje and other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party elected at the 2023 elective convention of the party held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, be recognized forthwith as the national chairman and executives of the party respectively.

This is even as the court ordered INEC to upload the names of the party’s officials on the commission’s portal as earlier ordered in its ruling delivered on March 11, 2025, stressing that any action of the commission contrary to that will attract sanctions.

At the resumed hearing of the case between Action Alliance and INEC before Justice Funmilola Dem-Ajayi on Wednesday, the court reaffirmed its earlier order, ruling that the March 11 judgment of the court subsists and will not deliver any other ruling until the earlier judgement is duly obeyed.

Both Hon. Omoaje and the Action Alliance had filed contempt suit before the court over the failure of INEC and Prof Yakubu to obey the court order which reinstated Hon. Omoaje as the national chairman of the party.

The trial judge, Justice Funmilola Dem-Ajayi was taken aback by the disobedience of INEC on the court order as the commission failed to upload the name of Hon. Omoaje on its portal four months after judgment was delivered.

However, counsel to INEC, Mr Hammed Mohammed, told the court that he had an application to file before the court and the court directed that the application be filed before the next adjourned date fixed for 14th July, 2025.

Mr Mohammed said INEC had obeyed the court order partially by recognizing the state chairmen elected at the 2023 elective convention of the party held in Abeokuta under the Adekunle Rufai Omoaje led leadership.

However, the court insisted that its order should be obeyed fully and not partially.

It would be recalled that the court had in March this year held that the convention organized by Udeze was a nullity and declared that the only recognized convention of the party was the one held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta in Ogun State in 2023, which produced Hon Omoaje as the national chairman of the party.

Besides, the court affirmed that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of Action Alliance, as constituted on the 7th of October, 2023 led by Hon. Omoaje, remained the authentic and lawful leadership of the party, stressing that any claim to the contrary was baseless.