The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have renewed their calls for the removal of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
Filing a fresh petition on Friday, Atiku and the PDP noted that Aliyu Haidar Abubakar, son of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, campaigned for President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the February 23 presidential poll.
According to them, Abubakar was not only a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress but also contested the party’s governorship primary election in Gombe State.
The petitioners said they had attached the Facebook printout of the wall of the said the biological son of Bulkachuwa showing his campaign posts, photographs and posters canvassing votes for himself as a governorship aspirant and Buhari’s re-election bid to their motion as an exhibit.
They also made reference to the letter which the PDP on May 9 sent to the judge’s office, that her husband, Adamu Bulkachuwa, won a senatorial seat in the National Assembly poll, held alongside the February 23 election, on the platform of the APC.
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From all the points, the petitioners told the panel five-man tribunal that Justice Bulkachuwa’s close family ties to top APC members would hinder her from handling the proceedings of the tribunal without bias.
The petitioners insisted on Justice Bulkachuwa disqualifying herself as a member and head of the tribunal.
Demanding her replacement on the panel, they urged her to recuse herself from further participation in the proceedings of the tribunal.
The affidavit deposed to by the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP, Emmanuel Agbo, filed in support of the motion read in part, “I know that as a spouse of Adamu Bulkachuwa, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa is so closely related to Adamu Bulkachuwa that she cannot fairly hear and determine the instant petition without eliciting the suspicion and anxiety of all right-thinking persons, including myself.
“The Court of Appeal has more than 80 justices who are able and competent to participate in the hearing and determination of the extant petition in the absence of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.
“I also know that her biological son, Aliyu Haidar Abubakar is a card-carrying member of the 3rd respondent (APC) and he contested the governorship primary election of the 3rd respondent in Gombe State.
“Attached hereto and marked Exhibit 2 is a printout made today from the Facebook page named Aliyu Haidar Abubakar Volunteer Group containing his campaign posters, photographs and various posts showing his campaign messages for himself and the 2nd respondent, both of whom contested on the platform of the 3rd respondent.
“I also attach hereto and marked Exhibit 3 a printout of a Daily Post online news publication in which Aliyu Abubakar was prominently featured as the son of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa and who contested the governorship primary of Gombe State on the platform of the 3rd respondent.”
They added that Bauchi State, which was one of the three senatorial districts Bulkachuwa’s husband would be representing at the Senate when sworn in, “is one of the focal states in which the petitioners/applicants have all alleged that electoral infractions occurred”.
They therefore sought “an order that Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, President of the Court of Appeal, and the presiding justice of the panel hearing petition numbered CA/PEPC/2019 be recused from further sitting or participating in the proceedings in this petition and be replaced by another justice of this honourable court to sit in her place to hear and determine the petition”.