Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa
President Goodluck Jonathan has sent the name of Zainab Bulkachuwa to the Senate for confirmation as the President of the Court of Appeal. Ms. Bulkachuwa is already a judge at the court.
The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate before the judge can be sworn-in. Ms. Bulkachuwa will head Nigeria’s second highest court at a time Nigeria’s judiciary is also headed by a female. Mariam Aloma Mukhtar was appointed first female Chief Justice of the Federation by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.
Mr. Jonathan had approved the appointment of Justice Bulkachuwa as the Acting President Of The Court Of Appeal in November 2012 after the retirement of Justice Dalhatu Adamu. Mrs Bulkachuwa was born in March 1950 and represents Gombe State at the Appeal Court. She was called to the Bar in 1976, and elevated to the Appeal Court in 1998. Before then, she served as a judge in the High Court of Bauchi State and was at a time the Chief Judge of Gombe State.
Her profile on the website of the Court of Appeal listed the celebrated matters she handled to include the Sokoto State governorship election petition of 2007 and the case instituted by former Governor Timipre Sylva last year to challenge the nomination of Seriake Dickson as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. Prior to her appointment as President, she was the Presiding Judge of the Abuja division of the court. She is due to retire in 2020, the court says.
After she was sworn in as acting president on November 23, 2012, Justice Bulkachuwa expressed happiness for attaining such an enviable position in a male-dominated society. She promised to assess plans on ground in order to come up with workable strategies that would take the judiciary to a higher level. “I feel happy, I feel elated, but I also thank God for bringing me to this stage. “I have to see what is on ground and then make my plans,” she said.
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