Court orders arrest of Atiku’s son for ‘contempt’

The Upper Area Court at Kubwa in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the immediate arrest of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, son of Nigeria’s former Vice-President.

Bashir Danmaisule gave the order, following Abubakar’s failure to comply with a judgment that he should hand over their three sons to his divorced wife, Maryam Sherif.

Sherif had, last year, instituted a case against Abubakar, at the Upper Area Court at Gudu, also in Abuja, which was later transferred to the Upper Area Court at Kubwa.

She sought the court’s leave to grant her custody of her three sons.

The court, on October 27, 2020, delivered judgment on the matter, ordering Abubakar to hand over the children to Sherif with immediate effect.

But following the non-compliance of the defendant, Sherif’s counsel, Nasir Saidu, applied for the issuance of a judgment-debtor summons for the defendant to appear in court to explain why he did not obey the court’s order and why he should not be committed to prison.

But the defendant and his lawyer, Abdullahi Hassan, were absent in court.

The bailiff told the court that the summons had been served on the defendant through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), where he works, on November 3, 2020.

Saidu said having served the defendant, who failed to appear in court as directed, he had to apply that the court issue a warrant of arrest on the defendant.

The lawyer applied that the defendant be arrested and imprisoned until he complied with the judgment of the court.