Justice Bulkachuwa Recuses Self from Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal

By Dipo Olowookere

Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, who is the Chairman of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, has withdrawn from the tribunal.

Justice Bulkachuwa announced her decision to recuse herself from the tribunal on Wednesday after an application filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the 2019 presidential election, Mr Atiku Abubakar, was thrown out today by Justice Peter Ige.

The opposition party and its flag bearer at the poll had claimed Justice Bulkachuwa would not be fair in her judgement while being head of the election tribunal because of her ties with the ruling party, the All Progressives Party (APC), which is a party to the suit at the tribunal.

The PDP and Mr Atiku said Justice Bulkachuwa is the wife of Mr Adamu Bulkachuwa, a Senator-elect for Bauchi north senatorial district with the APC, saying on this ground, the Justice should recuse herself from the tribunal.

But while delivering the lead ruling on the application, Justice Ige said the party and its candidate could not provide enough evidence that Justice Bulkachuwa would be biased in the hearing and the decisions on the petition.

Justice Ige added that the fact that she is married to a Senator-elect who along with her son are in the APC will not foist any room for bias in the case.

Stressing that her relationship is not capable of prejudicing the case, Justice Ige concluded that the petitioners have not satisfied the requirements for the president of the tribunal to recuse herself and consequently dismissed the application.

Although Justice Bulkachuwa agreed with the lead judgment and the dismissal of the application, she said she will recuse herself for personal reasons.

She explained that she insisted that the matter be heard by the full court so that in the future another female judge will not face the same thing she faced.