Election Petition: Tribunal resumes Atiku vs Buhari hearing today

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja will today resume proceedings on the petition challenging the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of the February 23 presidential election. 

Buhari and Atiku 

The tribunal had on May 22, adjourned further hearing on the case the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, lodged against the outcome of the presidential poll, after President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, recused herself from presiding over the panel. Bulkachuwa disqualified herself following a motion the petitioners filed to challenge her decision to preside over the five-member panel tribunal. 

PDP and Atiku had insisted that Bulkachuwa’s involvement was prejudicial to their case against President Buhari, since her husband and son, are card-carrying members of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, which is the 3rd Respondent in the petition. 

Despite a ruling of the tribunal that dismissed PDP’s contentions, Justice Bulkachuwa, on May 22, voluntarily stepped aside, promising to appoint another Justice to head the panel.