Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa Wins At Supreme Court

A suit seeking to sack Adamu Bulkachuwa, the husband of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the Court of Appeal President has been rejected by the Supreme Court.

A five-man panel of the apex court in a judgment on Monday dismissed the appeal by Usman Tuggar, challenging the victory of Bulkachuwa as Senator representing Bauchi North senatorial district.

The appeal filed by Tuggar was dismissed by Justice John Okoro against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja delivered on June 11, 2019, which upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to the effect that the suit was statute-barred, having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by the Constitution.

Recall that Tuggar, who claimed to have won the APC primary election held on October 3, 2018, had filed a suit challenging the decision of the party to submit Bulkachuwa’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Justice Ojukwu, in her judgment on April 18, 2019, upheld Bulkachuwa’s objection and struck out the suit on the grounds that it was statute-barred, having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by the Constitution, a decision Tuggar appealed in the case slated for hearing on Monday by the Appeal Court.

Tuggar, in the appeal, filed by his team of lawyers, including Chike Okafor, faulted the judgment of the trial court, which he said resulted from the court’s misunderstanding of his case, particularly the cause of action.

He argued that the trial court erred in law when it wrongly held that the applicant (Tuggar) filed the suit outside the 14 days prescribed by Section 285(9) of the Constitution.