The National Support for Atiku Mandate (NSAM) has asked the president of the Court Of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to step aside from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Panel as the presidential election petitions hearing gets underway on 15th and 16th May 2019.

The group lends its voice to those of well-meaning Nigerians calling for the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal panel because of her affinity and connection with the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

According to the Director General/Convener of the group, Amb. Rowland Odih, “We are here to give His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar all the needed moral and physical support in a bid to regain his mandate given him by Nigerians in the recently concluded February 23rd Presidential Polls”.
“It will be impossible for the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa not to be bias as she has strong ties with the All Progressive Congress under which her husband Adamu Muhammed Bulkachuwa is Senator Elect representing Bauchi North Senatorial Zone”, he added.
Furthermore, “We believe in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man; so we are calling on the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal as a result of this conflict of interest”.

Nigerians should know however that Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa is not new to controversial cases.

One can recall some of the controversial cases handled by Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa and they include; the Benue South Senatorial election petition case 2007 between the then Senate President David Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Alhaji Usman Abubakar of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) as well as the Sokoto State Governorship election petition case 2007 which led to fierce disagreement between the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and the former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

These cases drew public outcry and outright condemnation by Nigerians as the outcome did not meet their expectation.

Only recently and as a run up to Presidential and National Assembly polls in the country, one can recall also the case between Usman Abubakar Tuggar and Adamu Muhammed Bulkachuwa where they both insisted that they won the All Progressive Congress (APC) primary elections held on October 3rd 2018 for Bauchi North Senatorial District.

Adamu Muhammed Bulkachuwa’s name was forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate against the belief that Usman Abubakar Tuggar won the primaries going by the documents made available to the general public.

This issue raised so much dust as some stakeholders in the state claimed that the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) swapped Tuggar’s name with Bulkachuwas’ in the list of candidates submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with a view to using Adamu Muhammed Bulkachuwa as an access to his wife Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa who is the President of the Court of Appeal and whose court handles election petitions cases among other judicial functions.

For sake of emphasis, Nigerians should however take note that Adamu Muhammed Bulkachuwa is husband to Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa and he is currently a senator elect under the All Progressive Congress (APC) representing Bauchi North Senatorial District and Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa is presiding over the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Panel in a case between The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC).

These and many more have raised salient questions as to her suitability and moral standing to handle cases in the presidential election petitions tribunal Holden at the Court of Appeal where she is president.

Flowing from the above therefore, the National Support for Atiku Mandate is calling on all Nigerians to unanimously ask Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Panel as this is the honorable thing to do at this trying time of our nascent democracy.
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