June 18, (THEWILL) – The Ninth Senate held its valedictory session on Saturday June 10, 2023 with senators in a joyous mood as many of them recounted their experiences in the last four years.
Two senators stood out among their colleagues with their pronouncements during the session. They are Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa who represented Bauchi North and Rochas Okorocha who represented Imo West Senatorial District.
Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa 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 and March 2020.
Bulkachuwa said, “Mr President, at my age I don’t think I will lobby anybody under the sun. I will do the right thing. I always do the right thing sincerely and honestly, too. So, I (can) look at faces in this chamber, who have helped me and sought my help when my wife was the president of the Court of Appeal.”
Feeling uncomfortable with the direction Bulkachuwa was going, former Senate President Ahmed Lawan interjected, “I think I will advise that you just round up and take your seat…This kind of insinuation will mean that there was favour and the rest of it. I don’t think it is a good idea.”
However, the 83-year-old senator ignored Lawan as he continued “Well, Mr. Chairman, I must say that (it is) okay to round up, since that is what you want me to do. I will do that and must thank, particularly my wife whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while she was in office. She has been very tolerant, accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues.”
Lawan interjected again and this time, more firmly: “Please, I don’t think it is a good idea going in this direction. It is not a good idea.”
Many Nigerians have over the years believed that most of the court decisions in the country are compromised, but the open pronouncement of Bulkachuwa buttressed what hitherto has been taken as mere speculation.
It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party did in 2019 allege that Mrs Bulkachuwa would not adjudicate on the case between its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and President Muhammadu Buhari over that year’s presidential election, saying Mrs Bulkachuwa, who was the then President Court of Appeal, would be partial due to her relationship with her husband, then a senator-elect on the platform of the APC, and her son, Aliyu Abubakar, who was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the same party.
She later stepped down from the panel and replaced herself with Mohammed Garba, who chaired the panel and eventually saw the proceedings through to the end.
Bulkachuwa retired from the bench after clocking the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judicial officers in 2020.
In its reaction, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) described the proclamation by Bulkachuwa as shocking.
NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, said in a statement that he watched the video clip of Senator Bulkachuwa’s confession with “with utter shock and disgust”.
He noted that the National Judicial Council (NJC) similarly condemned Senator Bulkachuwa’s conduct at its meeting on Wednesday, called for the investigation and prosecution of the former senator, vowing that “the NBA will at all times rise to the defence of the honour, integrity and independence of the judiciary.”
“It is in this regard that I call on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the ICPC, to immediately invite Senator Ahmad Muhammad Bulkachuwa for interrogation and proceed to prosecute him accordingly,” Maikyau, said.
He said he would follow up his call with “a letter to both the IGP and the ICPC Chairman in this respect.”
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, (CACOL), has called on anti-corruption agencies, the National Judicial Council and the Presidency to urgently set machineries in motion to investigate Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa over his statement that he obtained favours from his wife on behalf of his fellow senators.
In a release issued by CACOL and signed by Tola Oresanwo, the anti-corruption organisation’s Director of Administration and Programmes, on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, stated, “It would be recalled that Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, the current senator representing Bauchi North Senatorial District in a video clip, which surfaced yesterday, spoke at the valedictory session of the Ninth Senate. Bulkachuwa claimed that he encroached on his wife’s (Zainab Bulkachuwa, a retired Justice of the Appeal Court) “freedom and independence” in the course of her official duties as head of the second highest judicial office in Nigeria.
“We watched the video which has gone viral and we were aghast that a serving senator could condescend so low to the extent of currying unmerited favour on behalf of his colleagues from his wife who was privileged to be in a position of judicial authority. More alarming is the fact that the Senator has the boldness, audacity and temerity to come out in the presence of the press to confess his ‘many sins’ to the Nigerian state. This shows the level of impunity being exhibited by our so called representatives of the people.
“Since Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa has dramatically blown his own whistle, he has finally confirmed the reason why so many Nigerians have lost faith in the judiciary. Can we say all the cases his wife handled during her days on the bench are dispensed without fear or favour?
“The Senator’s statements in the viral video shows that corruption in high places is on the increase in the country and drastic measures must be taken to stem the tide. The President should not overlook this serious infraction committed by a person who is supposed to know and protect the laws of the land. It is one anomaly that shows the rot not only in the judiciary but in virtually every arms of government.
The anti-graft czar added, “Considering the strategic and critical role of the legislative and judicial arm of government, we believe people like Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, are not worthy in character and personality to represent any particular group of people in the country.
We therefore call on Anti-corruption Agencies, the National Judicial Council and the presidency to swing into action and immediately investigate the claim by the Senator. He and his wife should be quizzed to determine the cases he intervened in and correction or redress should be made in those cases while he along with his wife should be appropriately punished to serve as deterrent to others”.
Also during the valedictory, Senator Rochas Okorocha who represented Imo West Senatorial District taunted the President of the 9th Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, who contested the APC presidential primary ticket in June but lost and returned to the Senate in a controversial way after a fierce legal battle with Bashir Sheriff Machina, who won the Yobe North senatorial primary ticket of the APC.
The duo of Lawan and Okorocha contested the primary election of the APC, but lost to President Bola Tinubu.
Surprisingly, after some weeks the Supreme Court in a verdict, affirmed Lawan as the authentic candidate, even though he did not contest the primary, which Bashir Machina was elected as the candidate of the party.
However, confused with his emergence as the candidate of Yobe North Senatorial District, Okorocha, speaking during the valedictory session, said, “I did not contest for senate this period. I only contested for the office of the president.
“You are a very smart politician. How you came back is another chapter in our political history that we need to discuss.
“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.”
Reacting to him, Lawan said: “It was easy. I was there with you in the field and after our defeat; my constituents thought they needed me again.
“They asked me to come back and it was a tortuous journey because we had to go through the courts.”
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
