The Independent National Electoral Commission on Friday denied recent media reports claiming that it disobeyed a Federal High Court order issued in Osogbo, Osun State, concerning the leadership crisis within the Action Alliance(AA) party.
Recall that reports earlier in the week claimed that the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo had ordered the arrest of the immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for allegedly failing to comply with a judgment delivered on September 29, 2025.
The court had reportedly ruled in favour of a faction of the Action Alliance, led by Rufai Omoaje, validating the party’s elective convention held in October 2023 in Abeokuta. It also directed INEC to upload the names of the newly elected national and state executives, including Omoaje, on its official portal.
But the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, in a statement issued on Friday, described the reports as “misleading” and accused some media outlets of omitting key facts regarding the commission’s actions following the judgment.
“Our attention has been drawn to some media reports about an order made by the Federal High Court, Osogbo, Osun State, 11 days ago — on 29 September 2025 — for the arrest of the immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for purportedly disobeying its judgment in a case involving the Action Alliance party.
“But the misleading reports mischievously omitted the commission’s subsequent action on the case, erroneously portrayed the matter involving a corporate entity, namely INEC, as an individual affair, and gave the wrong impression that the court issued a fresh order after its initial pronouncement,” the statement read in part.
The commission added that it had already taken steps to comply with the court’s judgment. According to the commission, it filed the relevant legal documents at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, on Monday, 6 October 2025, still within the timeframe set by the court.
The commission also stated in the statement that it also tendered evidence from its website dashboard showing that it had recognised the AA executive elected on 7 October 2023 in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
However, INEC acknowledged that a counter-affidavit had been filed, claiming that it only listed four national executives without including the National Chairman, Rufai Omoaje.
“In line with its long-established tradition of always obeying court judgments and orders, the commission, on Monday, 6 October 2025 — which was still within the deadline — filed processes at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, to show that we had complied with its judgment and order recognising the Action Alliance executive elected on 7 October 2023 at Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“The dashboard of the commission’s website showing compliance was tendered as evidence.
“However, when the judgment creditors filed a counter-affidavit to complain that the commission partially complied by listing only four national executives without the National Chairman, Rufai Omoaje, the commission responded by attaching the Notice of Appeal filed by the same Omoaje at the Supreme Court, challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal which sacked him as the National Chairman of the party,” Olumekun clarified.
The electoral umpire in the statement also added that it could not recognise Omoaje as the party’s chairman due to the subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal, which it noted is legally superior to that of the Federal High Court.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal is superior to that of the Federal High Court. Hence, the commission cannot list Omoaje’s name as the chairman of the Action Alliance party while the judgment of the Appeal Court remains in force,” the statement added, just as it also also appealed to media organisations to uphold ethical standards in their reporting.
“We urge media organisations to fact-check their reports before publication to avoid misleading the public,” the commission stated.
