The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a contempt charge seeking to commit the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan SAN, to prison for alleged flagrant disobedience of a court order.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik struck out the suit on Tuesday following the failure of the applicant, Edozie Njoku, and his team to diligently prosecute the charge as required by law.
Njoku, who claimed to be the National Chairman of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), a political party in Nigeria, had filed Form 48 against the INEC boss, praying the court to commit him to Kuje prison for alleged refusal to monitor the party's convention.
However, due to Njoku's persistent failure to serve the committal proceedings papers on Amupitan personally, Justice Abdulmalik invoked the provisions of the law to dismiss the request.
The judge stated that it was not the duty of the court to assist any litigant in serving court processes on a defendant; rather, it was entirely the applicant's responsibility. She held that since contempt charges are semi-criminal in nature, Form 48 must be served on the alleged contemnor in person. Where the applicant fails to do the needful to advance its own case, the charge would be liable to be struck out as the only option for the court.
Consequently, she struck out Njoku's bid against the INEC chairman.
It was also reported that Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had issued an order for INEC to monitor the party's convention, but this could not be carried out because a similar convention of the same party had just been conducted.
Reacting to the court decision, the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Chinedu Obi, commended the striking out of the contempt charge against Amupitan. Obi, who spoke to newsmen in the company of the National Secretary, Alhaji Hassan Aminu Ibrahim, and the National Legal Adviser, Barrister Musa Isiaka, maintained that Njoku was never a member of the party but acted like a forum shopper to hijack the party from its original owners.
“Go to the INEC website, you will never see Njoku’s name there, but rather the 14-member National Executive Committee under our leadership and the state chairmen of the party in the country,” Obi said.
He charged members of the party across the country to be resolute and committed to the course of the party. Obi stated that with the striking out of Njoku’s contempt charge against the INEC chairman, the coast has become clear for effective participation in the 2027 general elections.
