Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa filed a suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, the Department of State Services, and the Nigerian Police Force, and a Federal High Court in Abuja set October 25 for judgment.
Bulkachuwa reportedly stated publicly during the 9th Senate’s valedictory session that he influenced his wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa’s decisions while she was the President of the Court of Appeal.
Between 2014 and 2020, Justice Bulkachuwa served as President of the Court of Appeal, retiring when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Bulkachuwa accused the ICPC, DSS, and others of conspiring with his political opponents to harass him following his valedictory remarks on the Senate floor, which he claimed his political opponents continued to misrepresent.
Bulkachuwa stated that he was surprised to receive an invitation from the ICPC to report for an interview on June 22 for interrogation regarding his remark on the Senate floor.
He claimed that under the law, only the Senate in session (committee of the whole) or any of its sub-committees had the disciplinary authority to summon him to answer any question or questions relating to his conduct or utterances on the upper chamber’s floor.
Bulkachuwa also sought a perpetual injunction prohibiting the defendants and other Federal Government agencies from inviting or compelling him “to appear before them for interviews or questioning in relation to his inchoate utterances on the floor of the 9th Senate.”
At the hearing on Friday, Bulkachuwa’s counsel, Donald Ayibiowu, urged the court to grant all of the requested reliefs.
The Clerk of the National Assembly argued in a counter-affidavit that Bulkachuwa was immune from any form of proceedings based on words spoken or written during the plenary session.
Oyin Koleoso, counsel for the Attorney General, criticized the plaintiff’s argument, claiming that he no longer had immunity from arrest and prosecution because he was no longer a Senator.
Koleoso requested that the case be dismissed.
