Breaking News
How I Influenced My Appeal Court Justice Wife To Help My Colleagues – Sen. Bulkachuwa
A troubling video showing Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, the current senator for the Bauchi North senatorial district, boasting about how he influenced his wife Zainab Bulkachuwa’s decisions while she was Justice of the Appeal Court has surfaced.
Justice Bulkachuwa retired from the bench in 2020 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 for justices of the Appeal Court.
According to the footage obtained by Biztellers, the statement was allegedly made during the Senate’s final session.
“Particularly my wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon when she was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues,” Bulkachuwa said in the video before he was interrupted by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.
Unsettled by the statement, Lawan told him, “I don’t think this is a good idea going towards this direction.” after which Bulkachuwa’s mic was put off.
Professor Ndubuisi Ekekwe, who shared the video on his verified Twitter handle on Monday, said, “we must give Senator Bulkachuwa a national award as a whistleblower of the month.”
Ekekwe continued by expressing his hope for retired Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to issue a press statement outlining her influences.
He wrote: “Unbelievable that a senator whose wife was the president of the court of appeal could brag how he influenced her decisions. He embarrassed the Senate president by revealing the open truth about Nigeria’s judiciary. We must give Senator Bulkachuwa a national award as a whistleblower of the month. Hope retired Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa will give a press release on how she was influenced! What a nation.”
The revelation received attention from Nigerians who criticised the originality of the Nigerian law.
It is worth noting that in May, prior to President Tinubu’s Inauguration a suit was filed against him with allegations, requesting the court to stop him from being sworn-in.
Helen Ogunwumiju, one of the five Supreme Court justices set to deliver judgement on the allegations of perjury filed against Tinubu is mother to Taiwo Moyinolorun Ogunwumiju who won a seat in the Ondo State House of Assembly on the platform of the APC as a member representing Ondo West 1.
Several social media users alleged that the judge may have some bias for Tinubu as he is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party one of her sons is an active member of.
Similarly, on the 16th of May, 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, filed a motion seeking the recusal of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa from further participation in the tribunal proceedings and requested her replacement by another Justice of the Appeal Court.
They argued that Justice Bulkachuwa is the biological mother of Aliyu Haidar-Abubakar, a prominent member of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Claiming that her close family ties to members of the APC, the third respondent in the petition, could result in bias, they asserted that her continued presence on the panel would compromise the fairness of the proceedings.
Additionally, they highlighted that during the tribunal’s inaugural sitting, the president of the appeal court remarked that complaints are inevitable despite well-conducted elections in Nigeria every four years.
Bulkachuwa however voluntarily withdrew from participating in the hearing of the case shortly after the unanimous decision of the panel dismissing the application filed by the petitioner.
Her decision to step down is perceived as a significant test of the transparency of the entire process.
Nigerians are calling on the National Judicial Committee to open an investigation on all judgments delivered by the retired Justice in the last 5 years.
As of press time, Hon. Zainab Bulkachuwa is yet to react to her husband’s claim.
Breaking News
NNPC JV Unveils New Crude Oil Grade ‘Nembe’, Commences Exports With 1,900 Barrels
Precious ADELOLA
The NNPC/Aiteo Joint venture has announced the introduction of Nembe Crude Oil Grade, a new crude oil grade into the international crude oil market.
The announcement of the Nembe Crude Oil Blend, produced by Aiteo, the Operator of the NNPC/Aiteo Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 Joint Venture (JV), was made at the ongoing Argus European Crude Conference in London, on Tuesday.
OML 29, an asset located onshore Nigeria, is operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration & Production Ltd, Africa’s leading indigenous hydrocarbon producer, following a historic acquisition from Shell in 2014.
The Nembe Crude was previously blended with the popular Bonny Light grade and exported via the Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal.
The unique selling point of the Nembe Crude Oil grade with an API gravity was highlighted by both the Aiteo E & P and NNPC Limited Leadership at the Argus Conference in London.
The Nembe Crude Oil grade also has a low sulphur content and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required spec of major buyers in Europe.
Two cargoes of 950,000 barrels each of the Nembe Crude Oil grade have since been exported to France and the Netherlands. With its attractive Assay of API 29 and low sulphur content, the Nembe Crude Oil grade commands a premium to the global Brent benchmark.
With the NNPC-Aiteo OML 29 JV back on-stream, Nigeria now boasts of an additional crude oil export of 2 Cargoes at 950,000 barrels each per month and 1.2 Bcf of export gas monthly.
This remarkable achievement signals the commencement of activities at Nigeria’s newest crude oil terminal, the Nembe Crude Oil Export Terminal (NCOET), which was licensed in line with the extant laws and Crude Oil Terminal establishment regulations.
The terminal was conceived as a Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) with a storage capacity of two (2) Million Barrels and the ability to offload crude oil to any export tanker from AFRAMAX to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
It has a loading capacity of 25,000 barrels per hour and will be exporting over 3.6 million barrels of Crude oil monthly at full scale of operation.
Currently, hydrocarbon production from OML 29, which was hitherto constrained due to evacuation challenges owing to the security issues around the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) corridor, has now been resolved through a collaborative and creative approach that led to the innovation of the Alternative Crude Oil Evacuation Solution.
The Argus European Crude Conference 2023 in London is a gathering of energy majors, refiners, NOCs, traders, financial institutions, and other representatives from across the global oil markets. The event also provides a critical opportunity for business leaders to connect, discuss, share and learn from one another.
Breaking News
Nigeria Owes NNPCL US$3.1bn, As Subsidy Hits US$921.5m Monthly
Breaking News
JUST IN: Tribunal Sacks Gov Uba Sani, Declares Election Invalid
Governor Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was removed from office on Thursday by the governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna State.
The panel ruled that the state’s 2023 governorship election was invalid.
According to information gathered by Biztellers, the judges avoided the actual auditorium and instead communicated the decision via zoom.
It commanded the holding of new elections in seven wards across four local government units in the State.
Isa Ashiru, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, and the PDP filed the petition.