The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, on Wednesday, withdrew as a member of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
This followed allegations of likelihood of bias levelled against her by the Peoples Democratic Party, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Although, the five-man panel of the tribunal, in a unanimous ruling, dismissed the application on the grounds that the allegations of a likelihood of bias were not established; Bulkachuwa said she was withdrawing for “personal reasons.”
Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had asked Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The party presented the request at a closed-door meeting of the parties at the Court on 14th May 2019.
The PDP had raised some concerns regarding the decision of Mrs Bulkachuwa to preside over the election tribunal, citing the comments she made at the inaugural sitting of the tribunal on May 8.
The party in a statement also alleged strong ties between Mrs Bulkachuwa and the respondent in the petition, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the statement, the PDP accused Mrs Bulkachuwa of making declarations suggesting her view about the elections.
The PDP referred to a comment by Mrs Bulkachuwa that: “No matter how elections were conducted, there was bound to be conflicts.”
Mrs Bulkachuwa had added after making the said comment, that the election tribunals were created to ensure the peaceful resolution of such conflicts.
But in a reaction, the PDP said the statement was evident that Mrs Bulkachuwa had taken a stand to accept that the elections were faultless.