The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) on Wednesday, fixed May 22 to entertain an application by Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, seeking the recusal of the tribunal chairperson, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, from the five-man panel. Atiku and the PDP are seeking the withdrawal of Justice Bulkachuwa from the panel that would hear their petition against the election of President Buhari alleging conflict of interests and preconceived bias against them.
The election tribunal had fixed Wednesday to begin pre-hearing on the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP challenging outcome of the Feb.23 president election. At the resumed hearing, the lead counsel to Atiku and PDP, Levi Uzoukwu (SAN), filed an oral application to be granted permission for all counsel to meet with the members of the panel in chambers. Bulkachuwa went ahead to grant the request by ordering a stand down on the matter.
Upon their arrival from chambers, Bulkachuwa immediately disclosed in the open court the informal call by the petitioners for her to withdraw from participating in the hearing of their petition. She however said such an action must be formally placed before the court through an application that should be argued by all parties.
“The counsel for the two petitioners has raised an issue in chambers directing me to recuse myself from hearing their petition. This matter has initially been brought to my attention in a letter from the office of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, dated May 9. Their request is now in the public domain, hence the counsel for the petitioners must approach the court with a formal application,” she said; asking the petitioners’ lawyer to move the application. Uzoukwu said the petitioners will come by way of a formal application, promising to file the application on Thursday (May 16).
The PDP letter to the Court of Appeal President signed by its National Chairman, Uche Secondus, and the party’s National Secretary, Sen Umar Tsauri, said going by the utterances of Justice Bulkachuwa at the inaugural session of the tribunal, the party was certain that justice would not be served at the end of the day, if Justice Bulkachuwa remains a member of the panel.
“My Lord, in your address at the opening of the pre-hearing today (Wednesday), you made some remarks that are both frightening and heartwarming. For instance in your opening paragraph you said:
“Elections are held in Nigeria every four years into elective positions. No matter how well the election is conducted there are bound to be complaints….This remark rocked our confidence in a panel led by Your Lordship to determine our fate in an election which could be one of the ones that were very well ‘conducted’ in Your Lordship’s opinion.”
The party further submitted that Justice Bulkachuwa ought not to have been a member of the panel at all knowing full well that members of her family including her husband are all member of the APC; a party in the petition. “This fear was palpable enough just with you as the President of the Court of Appeal but has now been worsened and compounded by the discovery that you have decided to appoint yourself as the chairman of the panel to hear the petition,” the letter noted. The party also reminded Justice Bulkachuwa to be guided by her own words when she said: “Justice demands that judges who will sit in the panel of a tribunal be divested from all forms of bias” and accordingly do the needful, the PDP stressed in the letter.
While the counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yunus Ustaz (SAN), said they are not opposed to the application, counsel to President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), said he was ready to respond to the application if the petitioners are ready to move the application orally. He however said if the petitioners prefer a formal application, then they will be asking for the normal seven days provided by the law to respond. The APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) said he aligned himself with Olanipekun’s position. Consequently, Justice Bulkachuwa said: “Application yet to be filed is adjourned to May 22 for hearing.”
In another development, the tribunal granted Coalition for Change (C4C) and its presidential candidate, Geff Ojinika permission to serve President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with their petition by substituted means. Bulkachuwa granted the order sequel to an ex-parte motion application by the C4C lawyer, Obed Aguh, who had informed the court on their difficulty in serving their petition on Buhari and Osinbajo.
“The applicants are hereby granted leave to serve president Buhari and vice president Osinbajo with the petition challenging their victory through substituted means. “The first and second respondents should be served via the National Secretariat of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in No.40 Blantyre Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.”
At the inaugural sitting of the panel, scores of protesters had besieged the venue of the tribunal, with placards urging the tribunal to do justice. At Wednesday’s sitting, notwithstanding the heavy security presence, large number of persons perceived to be Atiku’s supporters gathered near the complex of the office of the Head of Service, by the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.
The group under the aegis of Support for Atiku’s Mandate called on the Tribunal to nullify the election of President Buhari and declare Atiku winner of the 2019 presidential election. They also asked Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from hearing the matter. The group’s spokesperson Justice Abraham, said they will not rest until Atiku reclaims his mandate, adding that Nigerians freely gave their mandate to Atiku, following the failure of President Buhari to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
