Court commences contempt proceedings against Jega, INEC, others

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has commenced contempt proceedings against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, over plans to deploy the procured collapsible transparent ballot boxes for the conduct of Edo State governorship elections.
Justice Adamu Bello had issued “Form 48”; a Notice of Consequences of Disobedience of Court order against INEC, Jega and the registrar of Patent, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Trade.

In the notice, the court said the respondents would be guilty of contempt and liable to imprisonment if they failed to comply with his order, barring the deployment of the procured transparent ballot boxes for the poll, without first seeking the consent of the patent owner to the boxes.

“Take notice that unless you obey the directives contained in this order, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison,” the notice read.

It will be recalled that the court had, on June 5, declared illegal the use of the collapsible transparent ballot boxes used for the 2011 general election by INEC without the consent of the owner of the patent right to the boxes.

The court also barred the electoral body from using the boxes for any subsequent polls, including the July 14 Edo governorship election, without first seeking the approval of the patent owner.
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The orders of the court was as a result of a suit filed by an indigenous company, Bedding Holdings Limited, challenging the use of the boxes for the elections.
The plaintiff had approached the court, contending that it had subsisting exclusive and bona fide patent right to the collapsible transparent boxes used by INEC for the conduct of the 2011 polls.

Bedding Holdings said the collapsible transparent ballot boxes was among many of its innovations duly registered with exclusive patent right issued to it by the Registrar of Patents in the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In his judgment,the prisiding judge,Justice Bello upheld the claims by the plaintiff and also declared illegal a parallel patent right issued to EMCHAI over Envopak ballot boxes purportedly issued by the Ministry of

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