Justice Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa
By Our Reporter
Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa, in a video that has gone viral confessed how his, wife Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, retired President of Court of Appeal, assisted politicians to win election cases.
Senator Bulkachuwa, 83, who represented Bauchi North senatorial district in the 9th Senate, confirmed infringing on the “freedom and independence” of his wife as a judicial officer.
“My wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while (she) was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues,” said Senator Bulkachuwa, an All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, at a valedictory session of the 9th Senate on 10 June.
In the 41-minute video clip of Mr Bulkachuwa’s revelation, the outgone Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, was seen interrupting Mr Bulkachuwa, who lost his reelection bid to the parliament.
Lawan said, “Distinguished, I don’t think this is a good idea going this direction. It is not a good idea, please,” Mr Lawan retorted, stopping Mr Bulkachuwa from further spilling the beans.
Senstor Bulkachuwa’s rare confession serves as a validation of the suspicion of bias the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had against Justice Bulkachuwa after she appointed herself to head the five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court in 2019.
The PDP, along with its then-presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was challenging the election of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party alleged that Mrs Bulkachuwa would not adjudicate on the case impartially due to her tie to her husband, then a senator-elect on the platform of the APC, and her son, Aliyu Abubakar, who was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the party.
Justice Bulkachuwa later stepped down from the panel and replaced herself with Mohammed Garba, who chaired the panel and eventually saw the proceedings through to the end
She retired from the bench as president of the Court of Appeal after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judicial officers in 2020.
See Video
