A mild drama played out at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday when the lawyer representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), urged the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to “leave the matter” to protect her reputation.
The tribunal had scheduled Wednesday to rule on an application filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, asking Bulkachuwa, to withdraw her membership of the five-man panel.
Through their application filed through their lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, on May 16, the petitioners urged Bulkachuwa to disqualify herself from further participating in the proceedings of the tribunal on the basis of alleged likelihood of bias.
The application was based on the family ties which Bulkachuwa has with top members of the All Progressives Congress, the party whose victory is being challenged in the petition filed before the tribunal by both Atiku and the PDP.
But during Wednesday’s hearing, the separate legal teams of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Muhammadu Buhari, and the APC, filed counter-affidavits to oppose the application which they described as unmeritorious.
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However, the lawyer representing the APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), advised Bulkachuwa to honourably quit for the sake of her name with her retirement from the bench only barely a year away.
He said, “As it is fast becoming the norm and regrettably so, this is another havoc wreaked on the finest Nigerian jury.
“This is not the first time this is happening. Just recently, Justice Oyewole, whose immortal contribution was acknowledged by the counsel for the applicants a while ago, was written against not to be allowed to sit on the appeal panel on the Osun State governorship election petition.
“Nebulous as ‘likelihood of bias’ is, it has its own boundaries.
“The exhortation in all the authorities that have been cited, recognise that each case will have to be dealt with on its own merit.
“The matter before the court has nothing to do with governorship or National Assembly elections.
“Whatever the Constitution of a political party is, it is the Constitution of the country that is supreme.
“And nowhere in the Nigerian Constitution that the President is allowed to remove a governor or a member of the National Assembly.
“My conclusion, with respect, is that the application is blackmail. On the facts and the law, the application is most unmeritorious.
“But, with respect, next year, your lordship, the President of the Court of Appeal, will be bowing out gloriously by God’s grace.
“Your name, either the one you acquired before you got married or the one you acquired after you got married, none is for you alone. You hold them in trust and you have been blessed – being the first female President of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria.
“My lord, your youthful look may confuse one. You are old enough to be my mother. My lord, you standing in as my parent, I will say, ‘Mum, leave the matter’.”
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