Ex-senator under fire after confessing to influencing wife’s decisions as appeal court judge
A Nigerian senator in the 9th Senate, Adamu Bulkachuwa, has come under fire after confessing to have influenced the decisions of his wife, Zainab, while she was serving as a judge and President of the Court of Appeal.
The comment also called Mrs Bulkachuwa’s reputation into question, as many said it has destroyed public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary.
Bulkachuwa, 83, who represented Bauchi North senatorial district in the 9th Senate, confirmed infringing on the “freedom and independence” of his wife as a judicial officer.
“My wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while (she) was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues,” said Mr Bulkachuwa, an All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, at a valedictory session of the 9th Senate on 10 June.
In the 41-minute video clip of Bulkachuwa’s revelation, the outgone Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, was seen interrupting Bulkachuwa, who lost his reelection bid to the parliament.
“Distinguished, I don’t think this is a good idea going this direction. It is not a good idea, please,” Mr Lawan retorted, stopping Bulkachuwa from further spilling the beans.
Compromise of court decisions is generally believed to be a recurrent happening in Nigeria, but confession to it by actors is rare.
Bulkachuwa’s rare confession serves as a validation of the suspicion of bias the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had against Mrs Bulkachuwa after she appointed herself to head the five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court in 2019.
The PDP, along with its then-presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was challenging the election of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party alleged that Mrs Bulkachuwa would not adjudicate on the case impartially due to her tie to her husband, then a senator-elect on the platform of the APC, and her son, Aliyu Abubakar, who was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the party.
Mrs Bulkachuwa later stepped down from the panel and replaced herself with Mohammed Garba, who chaired the panel and eventually saw the proceedings through to the end.
Mrs Bulkachuwa retired from the bench as president of the Court of Appeal after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judicial officers in 2020.
