It was not the pressure of guilt that made presiding justice of the presidential election petition tribunal Zainab Bulkachuwa to quit yesterday. She was secure in the rightness of staying on the panel if she chose.
For the panel dismissed the application filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the general elections, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, against Bulkachuwa.
The PDP and Atiku had last week filed an application against Bulkachuwa, asking her to recuse herself from the panel over a likelihood of bias.
But the panel held yesterday that after ruminating on the evidence and submissions of the petitioners, it found they had not established enough reason for Bulkachuwa to recuse herself.
The presiding justice nevertheless announced her decision to step down from adjudicating on the matter. She said she took the action for personal reasons, and so that another female justice would not face similar discrimination. She disclosed that a new chairman of the panel would be appointed.
Four other members of the panel will continue to hear the matter pending the appointment of a new chairman.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy and non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, to resign immediately, following the suit brought against him over alleged falsification of age.
It said the National Judicial Council (NJC) has already established precedent that if the head of the judicial arm faces a strong legal challenge; he must quit or be suspended pending the determination of the matter.
The organisation disclosed this yesterday in a statement by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and national media affairs director, Miss Zainab Yusuf.
“Justice Walter Onnoghen was forced out of office even before an allegation of failure to declare assets correctly was determined by a highly compromised Code of Conduct Tribunal. Tanko Muhammad must be suspended until such a time that he is either cleared or the matter determined, one way or the other. If he is convicted, then he should be fired,” HURIWA said.
Source: Guardian Newspaper
