Atiku Care Foundation has advised the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to be guided by its conscience in delivering judgement and not allow itself to be swayed by what it described as the tyrannical tendencies of President Muhammadu Buhari, which may lead to anarchy.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Director, Media & Publicity,
Atiku Care Foundation, National Headquarters, Abuja, Popoola Isiaka Olamilekan.
“What will be their attitude to deliver justice without thinking of the tyrannical hammer of Gen. Buhari who had wielded same on the immediate past CJN Onnoghen.
“Even though we now know that the Court of Appeal has declared Onnoghen’s mistreatment as illegal.
“We are afraid we might be heading for a charade at the appeals tribunal except the judges will keep to their conscience and let the wheel of justice grind to a truthful, factual and uncompromisingly compelling end.
“That is what all Nigerians are looking forward to. Any acts of heinous neglect of the true facts of the matter will erode the judiciary and leave space for chaos and anarchy.
“On this note, we call for truth and conscience to work as siamese twins on this matter and let justice not only be done but to be clearly seen to be done,” the statement said.
According to the statement titled, ‘JUSTICE BULKACHUWA AND THE CONSCIENCE TO DO GOOD IN ATIKU ABUBAKAR vs MUHAMMADU BUHARI et al’ the foundation said that this goes a long way in proving the quote, “Conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it” by Othman Dan Fodio true.
The group said that the decision to withdraw from the Presidential election petition tribunal honourably by Justice Bulkachuwa is an honourable act that will forever remain a shinning example for women in decision making process.
“This is based on the assumption that people choose how cooperative and how assertive to be in a conflict. In doing this, she has chosen not to compromise justice by rejecting the tortoiseshell complicity of the other judges on the panel. We commend her resolve and she is a shining example of the meekness of women in decision making process,” it stated.
The foundation said that conflict of interest is a situation in which a person has a duty to more than one person or organization, but cannot do justice to the actual or potentially adverse interests of both parties.
“In fact, a conflict of interest can exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it. The conflict can be mitigated—but it still exists. In and of itself, having two roles is not illegal, but the differing roles will certainly provide an incentive for improper acts in some circumstances, like when a direct family member was an interested party in the situation. In this case, Justice Bulkachuwa’s husband has been recently elected Senator from Bauchi as a member of the ruling APC government.
“However, faced with the obvious question of personal conviction, Justice Bulkachuwa chose the high road and recused herself from the tribunal. Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann developed five conflict resolution strategies that people use to handle conflict, including; avoiding, defeating, compromising, accommodating, and collaborating,” it added.
