The President of the Appeal Court and former Chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa has appointed Justice Mohammed Garba as her replacement following her decision to withdraw from the panel.
Bulkachuwa had withdrawn from the election petition tribunal after the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar filed a motion seeking her withdrawal.
Atiku and the PDP had expressed anxiety over possible bias, since her husband was a senator-elect on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. The petitioners also accused her son of campaigning for President Muhammadu Buhari during the last general elections, stressing that Justice Bulkachuwa may compromise the petition.
Although the tribunal unanimously struck out the motion filed by the PDP and Atiku, Justice Bulkachuwa announced her withdrawal on personal grounds. Weeks after, she has now appointed the Presiding justice of the Lagos Court of Appeal, Justice Mohammed Garba as her replacement.
The PDP made this known on its Twitter handle after the Tribunal resumed sitting today. The tweet read
“Justice Mohammed Garba has been appointed to replace Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa as the chairman of the 2019 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Until his appointment, Justice Mohammed Garba was the presiding Judge of the Lagos State Division of the Court of Appeal. The Tribunal is currently in session.”
