Bulkachuwa Steps aside from Presidential Election Tribunal

The President of the Court of Appeal and Chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa on Wednesday, 22nd May 2019, withdrew from sitting as a member of the Tribunal sitting over the election petition filed by the Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the conduct of the 2019 Presidential election. Her membership of the Tribunal came into question when the panel commenced sitting on 8th May 2019. PDP and its Presidential Candidate in the 2019 General election, filed an application asking Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the case on the basis of the likelihood of bias, stemming from the fact that she is married to a Senator-elect, who is a member of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Despite the Tribunal’s ruling against the application, stating that the basis put forward by the PDP was insufficient to infer bias, Justice Bulkachuwa went ahead to step down from presiding over the case. According to her, a new Justice would be appointed to take her place on the panel. However, the other four members of the Tribunal will continue to hear the preliminary applications in the petition pending the appointment of a Chairman for the Tribunal.

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