The Nigerian political landscape has been rocked by the emergence of a video of Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, representing Bauchi North senatorial district, bragging about influencing his wife, retired Justice of the Appeal Court Zainab Bulkachuwa in her decisions while in office. This has led to calls for an investigation into all election cases that came before her from former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili.
Obiageli Ezekwesili, taking to her verified Twitter handle on Tuesday, criticized former Senate President Ahmad Lawan for covering up what she describes as “the confession of a crime”. She urges the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to immediately institute an investigation into all election cases that Zainab Bulkachuwa was involved in, given the emergence of the damning video.
This statement came in the wake of Bulkachuwa making comments at the valedictory session of the 9th Senate insinuating that he influenced many of his wife’s decisions. Specifically, he spoke of his encroachment on “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” before he was cut short by Lawan.
The fact that the former Senate President cut him short shows that he knew that the content of Bulkachuwa’s statement was inappropriate, yet he did nothing to address the issue. Ezekwesili, an advocate for democracy and good governance, expressed her displeasure with both the state of politics and the judiciary in Nigeria, referring to them as a “corrupted political class” and “the Nigerian judiciary”, respectively.
She concludes by calling on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to investigate all election cases presided over by the former President of Appeal Court, asking if there is any honour left in the Judiciary of Nigeria.
