Court orders Atiku’s son’s arrest over failure to obey judgment

The Upper Area Court, Kubwa, Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the immediate arrest of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, son of Nigeria’s former Vice-President, for disobeying its ruling on the custody of his three sons.

The judge, Bashir Danmaisule, had on October 27 ordered the ex-vice president’s son to hand over the children to their mother, Maryam Sherif, for custody.

But the woman’s lawyer, Nasir Saidu, returned the court on Thursday and complained that Abubakar had failed to comply with the judgment.

He asked the court to issue a judgment-debtor summons for the defendant to appear in court and explain why he should not be sent to prison for disobeying the court order.

However, Abubakar and his lawyer, Abdullahi Hassan, were absent in court on Thursday.

The court bailiff told Danmaisule that the defendant was served with the summons through the Nigeria Customs Service on November 3.

Saidu, who relied on the bailiff’s claim, urged the court to issue an arrest warrant against the defendant.

The judge agreed with the counsel that Abubakar had deliberately refused to appear in the court despite being served with the hearing notice.

He immediately issued an order for the immediate arrest of the former vice president’s son for disobeying the court’s order.