POLITICS: Atiku Vs Buhari: Tribunal To Resume Hearing After Bulkachuwa’s Withdrawal

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal will resume sitting on the petition
filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the
February 23 election.
The hearing notices to this effect have been issued to all parties to the petition,
according to The Sun newspapers.
Bulkachuwa’s withdrawal from the five-man panel was based on the allegation
of bias levelled against her by the PDP and Atiku.
Bulkachuwa said she decided to stand down from the tribunal for “personal
reasons” even after the tribunal had in a unanimous ruling dismissed the
application.
Atiku and PDP had last week, written to Bulkachuwa reminding her of her
promise to appoint a replacement on the panel to enable the hearing of their
petition to resume following the delay.
There are indications that Justice Bulkachuwa has now appointed another
judge as her replacement on the five-man panel to hear the case.
The petition, which was signed by a lawyer in their legal team, Silas Onu, stated
that as of May 31 when the letter was delivered at Bulkachuwa’s chambers, it
was nine days since she recused herself from the tribunal, yet nothing had
been heard about her replacement.
The letter read in part: “Considering the strict requirement of keeping to the
constitutional calendar for a petition and the obvious fact that time is also
running fast against the petitioners, we pray my Lord to act by appointing a
replacement so that we will get a hearing notice and continue with the petition
in the interest of justice.”

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