Meet Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf, The Only Female Judge On The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal Five-Man Panel

Anticipation is in the air as Nigerians await the final verdict by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. The judgment to decide President Bola Tinubu’s election fate is set to be delivered on Wednesday, September 6th.

In May, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal commenced its sitting with various justices presiding over the various petitions.  Five political parties including the PDP, LP, Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and the Action Alliance (AA) had lodged separate petitions before the tribunal seeking to annul Tinubu’s victory.

The Presidential Election Petition tribunal is made up of a five-man panel of justices headed by the presiding justice, Justice Haruna Tsammani. They are:

• Justice Haruna Tsammani – Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal
• Justice Stephen Adah – Court of Appeal (Asaba division)
• Justice Misturat Bolaji-Yusuf – Court of Appeal (Asaba Division)
• Justice Moses Ugo – Kano division
•  Justice Abba Mohammed – Ibadan Court of Appeal.

However, one judge, who stands out on the list is Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf, the only female member of the five-man tribunal panel.

In this article, we spotlight ten interesting things about her.

1. Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yuluf was born on August 7, 1959.

2. She hails from Oyo-West Local Government Area of Oyo State, South-west Nigeria.

3. She obtained her LL.B degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1983 and attended the Nigerian Law School the following year for her BL certificate.

4. She was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Oyo State on January 30, 1997.

5. Justice Bolaji-Yusuf occupies the 31st position on the roll call of the judges of the court.

6. As a judge of the Oyo State High Court, she issued an order on January 12, 2006, that invalidated the steps taken by the then-acting Chief Judge of the state, Afolabi Adeniran, which led to the illegal removal of the then-governor, Rashidi Ladoja.

7. She was elevated to the Court of Appeal on March 24, 2014.

8. She delivered the lead judgment of the three-man panel of the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal that affirmed the first-term election of Governor Godwin Obaseki in June 2017.

9. Justice Bolaji-Yusuf is the longest-serving judge among the five judges on the panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court, with 26 years of unbroken career as a judge to her credit.

10. She currently serves at the Asaba Division of the Court of Appeal where she ranks behind Mr. Adah as the second most senior judge.