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Judge rules INEC cannot overturn final judgment directing probe of 2023 electoral violence
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Justice Egwuatu says only Court of Appeal can revisit July 2024 ruling
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SERAP hails verdict as major victory for rule of law and electoral accountability
The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set aside a July 2024 judgment that mandated the commission to investigate and prosecute electoral offences committed during the 2023 general elections.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a ruling dated 23rd July 2025, rejected INEC’s preliminary objection and affirmed that his earlier judgment was final and delivered on the merits—not by default—as the electoral umpire had claimed.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which brought the initial lawsuit against INEC and has since filed a contempt proceeding against the commission and its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
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The statement reads partly:“The judgment delivered by this Court on the 18th July, 2024 is a final judgment. It is a judgment on the merits, and not a default judgment as contended by INEC. Accordingly, I resolve the issues in favour of SERAP and against INEC.”
“The Court cannot, on the basis of ‘bureaucratic bottlenecks and administrative challenges within the INEC’ transmute the judgment delivered after a compassionate consideration of the evidence placed before the court, into a default judgment,” the statement added.
“A person who has been served a process of court cannot be compelled to defend the suit if he does not want to. Once a court is satisfied that an opportunity has been offered to the Defendant to defend the action and he chooses not to, he cannot be heard subsequently to say that he was denied a fair hearing.”
“It will therefore not be necessary to proceed to decide on the merits of the application as same will be a waste of the precious judicial time and resources of this court.”
Justice Egwuatu further held that the lower court had become functus officio, meaning it could no longer revisit the ruling except under the narrow exception of correcting clerical errors—something not argued in INEC’s application.
In his words, “INEC’s remedies lie at the appellate court and not in this court,” adding that “reliefs sought in an application are not facts capable of being misrepresented by SERAP.”
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SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, in the statement described the ruling as “a victory for the rule of law.” He urged INEC to immediately comply with the judgment, stating that “a democratic state based on the rule of law cannot function if court orders are routinely ignored.”
The July 2024 judgment had directed INEC to investigate and prosecute electoral offenders, particularly sponsors and perpetrators of vote-buying, bribery, and violence during the 2023 elections. It also instructed the commission to collaborate with the police, EFCC, ICPC and other agencies in prosecuting detained suspects.
The case has been adjourned to October 20, 2025, for the hearing of the contempt lawsuit filed by SERAP against INEC.
