A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Uwen Nwoko has lashed out at Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa over a comment he made suggesting that his wife, Zainab, extended help to his colleagues in the Senate as the President of the Court of Appeal.
“That revelation by distinguished Senator Bulkachuwa is a pointer that a lot of the things that we see and work with are not exactly what they ought to be,” Nwoko said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.
“Let me begin by saying this as a way of caution that whatever he said about the role of his wife as Court of Appeal president should not be taken as a judgement on the judiciary.
“We have judicial officers with very high integrity, we have a judiciary that can be counted upon, we have a judiciary that is the last hope of a common man, we have a judiciary that is delivering judgement, making rulings and making decisions based purely on what the law says and what it should be.”
The senior lawyer said such revelation is a big disgrace for Justice Bulkachuwa, those who worked with her, her family and what she represented.
Nwoko noted that it is a shame on the former Appeal Court President, and those who led her to compromise the integrity of the institution she represented.
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83-year-old Senator Bulkachuwa, who represented Bauchi North Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly, made the disclosure during the Senate valedictory session on Saturday.
The Senator’s comment has since attracted a lot of condemnations from many Nigerians, with some calling for investigation of his wife’s tenure as the Appeal Court President from 2014 to 2020.
Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has described the statement made by Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, representing Bauchi north senatorial district, that he influenced the decision of his wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, a retired Justice of the Appeal Court as a monumental disgrace.
Agbakoba, in a statement issued on Tuesday, also called on security authorities to take up the matter immediately.
Bulkachuwa had in the disturbing video bragged about how he influenced the decision of his wife, retired Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.
Justice Bulkachuwa retired from the Bench after clocking the statutory retirement age of 70 years for justices of the Appeal Court in 2020.
In the video that has gone viral, Bulkachuwa was heard saying: “Particularly my wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon when she was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues.”
Disturbed by the statement, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan was heard in the video saying “Distinguished Senator, I don’t think this is a good idea going towards this direction.”
Reacting to the statement by the lawmaker, Agbakoba said he represented Usman Tuggar in relation to disputed elections between him and Senator Bulkachuwa for Bauchi North senatorial, but lost the case up to the Supreme Court.
Agbakoba in his statement titled, “Senator Bulkachuwa Statement at the valedictory of the 9th Senate is a monumental disgrace,” noted that the statement of the Senator was, “a blight on his confidence in the systems.”
The statement read: “Senator Bulkachuwa statement at the valedictory of the 9th senate is a monumental disgrace for our institutions. This man deserves to be taken up immediately by the authorities.
“It is a blight on my confidence in our systems. I represented Usman Tuggar in relation to disputed elections between him and senator Bulkachuwa for Bauchi North senatorial. We lost in 3 courts. Senator Bulkachuwa seems to suggest why.
“It remains for president Tinubu to cleanse the system in a most dramatic and fundamental process if he wishes to succeed.
“The chairman of NDIC has also made dramatic revelations pointing to possible deep rot in our systems of government responsible for financial and monetary policy The president ought to act now.”