Honourable Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa proceeded to Abdullahi Bayero College Kano for her GCE ‘A’ Levels between 1971 and 1972 and in 1975 she obtained her LL.B (Hons) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.
She then proceeded to the Nigerian Law School Bwari - Federal Capital Territory, Abuja between 1975 and 1976.
[6] She is currently married to a former senator who is also a member of APC, Senator Adamu Muhammad bulkachukwu[7] Justice Zainab's eldest son, Aliyu Haidar Abubakar is a youth activist based in Abuja contested for Gombe Governorship election in 2018[8] [9] She was Call to the bar in 1976 and was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeals as Justice in 1998.
[11] She presided over the Sokoto State governorship election petition of 2007 and the suit in which Timipre Sylva's petition challenged the nomination of Seriake Dickson as the State flag-bearer of the Peoples' Democratic Party, a case that was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
[12][13] On April 17, 2014, she was appointed as the first female president of the Nigerian courts of appeals by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, sworn in by Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, a former chief justice of Nigeria and who coincidentally is first female chief justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.