The Nigerian Bar Association has kept mum over the alleged perversion of justice in favour of politicians by former Appeal Court president Zainab Bulkachuwa while demanding the prosecution of her husband, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa, who publicly confessed about clandestine steps taken by his wife upon his prodding and pressure.
The NBA did not specifically call for a probe of Ms Bulkachuwa’s tenure as Appeal Court president based on her husband’s confession that she used her position to favour politicians.
In a statement on Wednesday, NBA president Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau said Mr Bulkachuwa’s “statements were clearly admissions by the Senator, that he did attempt to, and/or actually perverted the course of justice/interfered with due administration of justice, which makes him liable to be investigated and prosecuted even on his admission.”
The NBA president called for Mr Bulkachuwa’s arrest and prosecution for his confession that “came with a huge negative impact on the integrity and the independence of the Judiciary can only be an understatement.”
Mr Maikyau added, “It is in this regard that I call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to immediately invite Senator Ahmad Muhammad Bulkachuwa for interrogation and proceed to prosecute him accordingly.”
The senator had publicly thanked his “whose freedom I encroached while she was in office.
“She has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues,” Mr Bulkachuwa stated during his valedictory speech on the house floor on Monday.
Chidi Odinkalu, former Nigerian Human Rights Commission chairman, berated the NBA for ignoring allegations against the former Appeal Court president.
“It’s not clear what ‘conduct’ the NJC purportedly condemned: the fact that Adamu Bulkachuwa confessed or the acts he confessed to. As to the former, he was a beneficiary of Parliamentary privilege; as to the latter, the NJC cannot condemn what it’s chosen not to investigate,” Mr Odinkalu said.
He added, “It is odd that the president of @NigBarAssoc should presume to issue a statement for @njgNIG. Although he is a member of the NJC, he is not its chairperson or presiding officer nor its spokesperson. The capacity in which he announced the NJC’s condemnation is dubious.”
In a tweet, another lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, posted NBA’s statement, calling it “yeye” and “jejune.”
