Unic Press UK: The President of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, on Wednesday recused herself from continuing to hear the presidential election petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
When the motion against Bulkachuwa membership of the Appeal Court panel to hear the presidential election petition was argued Wednesday, the lead counsel of the PDP/Atiku, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, said that the issue before the court with regard to the motion in contention included whether there are credible evidence to prove that the President of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, has a likelihood of bias, the Premium Times reports.
The hitherto 5-man panel, which had the President of the Court of Appeal and the Tribunal Chairperson, Justice Zanaib Bulkachuwa, Justice Abdul Aboki, Justice Peter Ige, Justice Joseph Ikyegh, Justice Samuel Oseji heard the motion and dismissed it. However, Bulkachuwa opted to withdraw her membership, saying that another judge would be named to join the panel.
A few weeks ago, the PDP had, in a letter written by its chairman, Uche Secondus, questioned the degree of impartiality of Judge Zainab Bulkachuwa.
Also, prior to this motion being determined, the opposition party PDP had issued a press release, saying: “Nevertheless, the PDP restates our demand for Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, following the manifest bias in her opening address: ”that no matter how well the election is conducted, there are bound to be complaints.”. The party felt uncomfortable with Bulkachuwa membership of the tribunal given that her husband, Hon. Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa and son are members of the APC – one of the respondents in the matter.
