Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has dismissed a suit seeking to sack Adamu Bulkachuwa, husband of the Court of Appeal’s President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.
In a unanimous judgment, a five-man panel of the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Usman Tuggar, challenging the election of Bulkachuwa as a senator for Bauchi North senatorial district on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice John Okoro, in the lead judgment, dismissed the appeal by Tuggar 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.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier dismissed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1240/08 by Tuggar, also of the APC.
Tuggar, who claimed to have won the APC primary election held on October 3, 2018, in his senatorial district, had by the suit, challenged the APC’s alleged decision to submit Bulkachuwa’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in his (Tuggar’s) place, as its candidate for the actual election held on March 23, 2019.
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 suit was filed outside the 14 days prescribed by Section 285(9) of the Constitution.