Bulkachuwa: Atiku To Take Decision On Election Tribunal

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is weighing his options on how to get the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to name her replacement in the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

The Appeal Court, which is serving as the elections tribunal hearing the challenge of the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the February 23 presidential election, has been on hold since the recusal of Justice Bulkachuwa as the head of the panel.
Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed an application demanding that Bulkachuwa step aside due to a perceived conflict of interest.
Since stepping aside, the President of the Court of Appeal has failed to nominate her replacement at the tribunal, so that the hearing of the petition could continue.
Statutorily, the five-man tribunal is expected to deliver its judgment 180 days from the day the petition is filed.
Atiku and the PDP filed their petition against the emergence of Buhari on March 18.
Multiple sources have disclosed to
ThisDay that Bulkachuwa’s delay in naming her replacement prompted Atiku’s lawyers to file a fresh petition last week over what they described as a deliberate ploy to truncate the constitutional deadline for the hearing of his petition against the victory of the president.
The sources also revealed that the former Vice President was considering other steps to take to get Justice Bulkachuwa to perform her statutory duty.
Among the options, Atiku is considering include writing a fresh petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) or resorting to diplomacy in getting the trial started.
One of the sources who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on the legal team of Atiku, said: “We have written a letter complaining that there is a delay. So, if we wait for sometimes and no action is taken, we will proceed with the next step, which may involve submitting a fresh petition to the NJC or using diplomatic approach.”
Another source said the PDP’s legal team had not received any response to the letter it wrote to the Appeal Court president, asking her to appoint a replacement.
“If there is no response to our letter, a meeting would be called to see what steps to be taken next,” the source said, adding: “Just as the meeting decided to write the letter, so another meeting would decide the next option.”
Atiku in a letter dated May 31, 2019, had expressed worry that 11 days after Justice Bulkachuwa disqualified herself from the tribunal, following the petition of the PDP and the Atiku/Obi’s legal team, the appellate court was yet to name her replacement.
The former vice-president, in the letter by his counsel, Mr Levy Uzoukwu (SAN), urged the President of the Court of Appeal to appoint a replacement forthwith, since she knows the tribunal has a timeline to prosecute the petitions.

We bring the news to you as it comes.....