SENATOR Adamu Bulkachuwa has revealed that his wife used her office as President of the Appeal Court to favour his colleagues in the Senate.
Zainab Bulkachuwa was President of the Court of Appeal between April 2014 to March 2020 and was the first female to hold the position.
Mr Bulkachuwa made this revelation during the Senate valedictory session on Saturday.
Bulkachuwa, a senator representing Bauchi North, says Zainab, his wife, used her position as a judge to favour his colleagues in the Senate.
She presided over the 2007 Sokoto State governorship election petition tribunal and the suit in which Timipre Sylva, former governor of Bayelsa State, challenged the nomination of Seriake Dickson, an ex-governor of the state, as the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic
Speaking at the senate valedictory session on Saturday, Bulkachuwa said he often influenced his wife’s decisions while she was in office.
In the video now circulating on social media, Senator Bulkachuwa, who retires from the Senate after clocking the age of 70, was bragging about how he dictated judgements for his wife, something that he was proud of.
“Particularly, my wife, whose freedom I encroached on while she was in office,” Mr Bulkachuwa said. “She has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues.”
The senator was still speaking when outgoing Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the valedictory session, cut in to stop the Senator.
“Distinguished, I don’t think this is a good idea going in this direction,” Mr Lawan said.
Mr Lawan, who contested the All Progressives Congress presidential primary ticket in June but lost, returned to the Senate after a controversial and fierce legal battle with Bashir Sheriff Machina, who won the Yobe North senatorial primary ticket of the APC.
During the same valedictory session, Rochas Okorocha had mocked Mr Lawan on the circumstances surrounding his return to the senate without duly participating in his party’s primary elections. Mr Okorocha, an outgoing senator representing Imo West, said: “I did not contest for the senate this period. I only contested for the office of the president. You are a very smart politician. How you came back to the Senate is another chapter in our political history that we need to discuss.”
Further mocking the controversial return of Mr Lawan to the Senate, Mr Okorocha said: “I was there in the field with you running for president, I never knew how you were able to meander, leaving some of us. Next time you must teach me how to do that.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media