Judge who insisted on arrest of INEC chairman soft pedals

Stephen Pam, judge of a federal high court sitting in Abuja, has suspended hearing in the contempt suit against Mahmood Yakubu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Pam had ordered an immediate arrest of the INEC chairman after he failed to appear before him for three consecutive times.

But at its sitting on Monday, an Abuja division of the court of appeal ordered stay of execution on the arrest warrant issued against Yakubu.

A day after, the federal high court insisted on the execution of the arrest warrant on the grounds that there is no evidence of the order halting the arrest.

In a short ruling at the resumed hearing on Thursday, Pam adjourned the matter in view of the order made by the court of appeal to stay proceedings.

The judge, however, instructed Samuel Omale, INEC’s counsel to convey his displeasure to Adegboyega Awomolo, Yakubu’s counsel, over the manner in which he handled the matter.

“Before me is a ruling from the court of appeal dated August 13, signed by Abdul Aboki, the presiding judge,” he said.

“In view of the court of appeal’s order to stay proceedings, this matter is adjourned to a date to be communicated to both parties, pending the outcome of the appeal.

“Send my displeasure to Awomolo. I do not like the way he is handling this matter. His attitude to this court is disappointing; he has shown a lot of disrespect to the court.

“He cannot sit in his house and expect the court to act based on information gotten from television announcements, I am not on his payroll and he should not treat me as such.”