All eyes will most certainly be on the President of the Court of Appeal and Chairman of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, as the jurist decides in due course whether or not to recuse herself from participating in deciding on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s legal challenge of President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the February 23, 2019, presidential election.
If a jurist is presumed to become “directly intimate” with the affairs of a political party as a result of the partisan activities of his or her family members, how many judicial officers across the country will be required not just to recuse themselves from particular cases but to excuse themselves from judicial practice entirely?
Justice Bulkachuwa herself appears acutely aware of the responsibility of the judicial officer in this regard when she declared in her speech at the inaugural sitting of the panel that “The Court of Appeal will work in accordance and within the dictates of the constitution, the law and international best practices, to dispense justice to all, without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
The petitioners claim that the Court of Appeal President would never be able to convince any reasonable person that she never discussed the petition with her husband during the duration of the trial should she fail to recuse herself from the case. Even if it is assumed that she does discuss the case with her husband, will she then come and impose whatever arises from such discussions either on the proceedings or on other members of the panel? This sounds almost childish.
Go and ask her
Pdp are confused party so justice Bulkachuwa must distance herself from s work bcs most of family are member of apc this s unbelievable arrant nonsense, what of justice Nyako and justice odili are they not n pdp
if we are.running a country of best practices.... The judge does not need to be asked
You can't be the jurist in your own case! Those that must come to the table of equity must come with clean hands