Adamu Bulkachuwa, a Nigerian senator, has come under scrutiny after admitting to influencing the decisions of his wife, Zainab, while she was President of the Court of Appeal and a judge.
The remark also cast doubt on Mrs. Bulkachuwa's reputation, as it has, according to many, undermined public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary.
Mr. Bulkachuwa, 83, who represented Bauchi North in the 9th Senate, admitted to violating his wife's "freedom and independence" as a judicial officer.
“My wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while (she) was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues,”
In the 41-minute video footage of Mr. Bulkachuwa's revelation, the defeated candidate for reelection to the parliament, Ahmad Lawan, can be seen interrupting Mr. Bulkachuwa.
“Distinguished, I don’t think this is a good idea going this direction. It is not a good idea, please,”. Mr. Lawan retorted, preventing Mr. Bulkachuwa from divulging additional information. Compromise of court decisions is widely believed to be a common occurrence in Nigeria, but actors rarely admit to it. Mr. Bulkachuwa's confession validates the opposition Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) bias suspicions against Mrs. Bulkachuwa after she appointed herself to lead the five-member Presidential Election Petition Court panel in 2019.
The PDP and its then-presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were contesting President Muhammadu Buhari's election.
The party alleged that Mrs. Bulkachuwa would not adjudicate the case impartially due to her ties to her husband, who was then a senator-elect on the platform of the APC, and her son, Aliyu Abubakar, who was a candidate for governorship on the party's platform.
Later, Mrs. Bulkachuwa resigned from the panel and was substituted by Mohammed Garba, who chaired the panel and ultimately oversaw the conclusion of the proceedings.
Mrs. Bulkachuwa stepped down from her position as president of the Court of Appeal in 2020, when she reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judicial officers.
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Mrs Bulkachuwa’s claim of independence faces test
In the final month of her appellate court leadership in February 2020, she shared her four-decade experience with Lagos journalists.
Mrs. Bulkachuwa specifically denied an allegation that she accepted an N6 billion gratuity.
“There was a time when allegations were flying around that I was given N6 billion, and I laughed. So, if I was given N6 billion, do you think I would still be here?” she wondered.
The judge then distanced herself from her husband's political activities.
Mr. Bulkachuwa, a staunch ally of then-President Buhari, was unable to secure the APC nomination for Bauchi North in 2022, causing him to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“My husband is a politician, but politics is a no-go area in the house. Even my children are aware of that. No politician is invited to the house. My husband can pursue whatever he wants to pursue as a politician, but we hardly discuss politics in the house. All these help to guard against any influence from any politician,”
However, her claims contradict Mr. Bulkachuwa's revelation at Saturday's Senate farewell session. In recent years, public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary has plummeted as a result of unfavorable court decisions.
‘A blight on judiciary’
Lawyers have condemned Mr Bulkachuwa’s statement. A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, described Mr Bulkachuwa’s, remark as “a monumental disgrace for our institutions.”
Mr Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), recalled how his client, Usman Tuggar, lost an election petition concerning the Bauchi North senatorial seat to Mr Bulkachuwa.
“I represented Usman Tuggar in relation to the disputed elections between him and Senator Bulkachuwa for Bauchi North senatorial. We lost in 3 (three) courts. Senator Bulkachuwa seems to suggest why,”. Mr Agbakoba said in a statement .
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Former NBA president and constitutional attorney called for Mr. Bulkachuwa's arrest, stating that the lawmaker's revelation “is a blight on my confidence in our systems.”
He urged President Bola Tinubu “to cleanse the system in a most dramatic and fundamental process if he wishes to succeed.”
Another lawyer, Malcolm Omirhobo, said Mr Bulkachuwa’s confession “portends danger to the dignity of the judiciary.”
Mr. Omirhobo, a human rights attorney, stated that the senator's comments demonstrated the "phony judgments" issued by Mrs. Bulkachuwa and the appellate while she served as its president.
“It will reduce the integrity of the judiciary, and the public will find it hard to trust and respect the judgements of our courts,” the lawyer pointed out, adding that “there are many like this infamous couple in Nigeria.”
In response to Mr. Bulkachuwa's statement, the former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, stated that Mrs. Bulkachuwa was "neither honorable nor interested in justice."
Mr. Odinkalu opined that Mrs. Bulkachuwa's subversion of justice, as disclosed by her husband, has "tarnished" the image of serving judges, whom he characterized as "trading judicial decisions in their bedrooms."
He urged sitting justices to speak out and demand an independent investigation into Mr. Bulkachuwa's revelations.
