The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is the head of the judicial arm of the government of Nigeria and presides over the country's Supreme Court and the National Judicial Council. The current chief justice is Kudirat Kekere-Ekun who was appointed on 22 August 2024.
Key Figures in Nigerian Judicial History
Kudirat Kekere-Ekun
On 23 August 2024, Kekere-Ekun was sworn-in by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja. Her appointment makes her the second woman to become Nigeria's Chief Justice after Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar.
Kudirat joined the Lagos State Judiciary as Senior Magistrate II and rose to the position of the State High Court Judge. In 2020, Kekere-Ekun was on the seven-member panel that sacked Imo State governor Emeka Ihedioha and declared that the winning candidate was Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who originally came fourth in the election results.
Sir Adetokunbo Ademola
Sir Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola (born February 1, 1906, Abeokuta, Nigeria-died January 29, 1993, Lagos, Nigeria) was a Nigerian lawyer and judge who was the first indigenous chief justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court (1958-72) and a cofounder of the Nigerian Law School.
Ademola was the son of Sir Ladapo Ademola II, who from 1920 to 1962 was the alake (king) of the Egba people in southwestern Nigeria. Ademola was educated at King’s College, Lagos, and at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He studied law at Middle Temple in London and was called to the bar in 1934.
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After returning to Nigeria, Ademola worked in the civil service, practiced law, and served as a magistrate (1939-49) and a puisne (junior) judge (1949-55). He was named to the Nigerian Supreme Court by the British colonial authorities in 1949 and was appointed chief justice of the Western Region in 1955. Three years later he was elevated to chief justice of the federation. Ademola retained his post after Nigeria became independent in 1960. He retired from the bench in 1972.
He was chosen to supervise the 1973 national census, but the controversial results were never officially accepted. He remained in public service, however, as chancellor of the University of Nigeria from 1975 and chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation from 1978.
Olukayode Ariwoola
Justice Olukayade Ariwoola is the immediate past chief justice of Nigeria (CJN). Ariwoola was born in Iseyin, Oyo State, started his primary education in Local Authority Demonstration School, Oluwole in Iseyin local government area of Oyo State. Ariwoola graduated from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, Osun State, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in law (LLB). He was called to the Nigerian bar and got enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria as a Solicitor and Advocate in July 1981.
Ariwoola started his career as a State Counsel on National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the Ministry of Justice, Akure, Ondo State, and later as a Legal Officer in the Ministry of Justice, Oyo State, until 1988, when he voluntarily left the State Civil Service for private practice. He had worked as counsel in the Chambers of Chief Ladosu Ladapo, SAN, between October 1988 and July 1989, when he established Olukayode Ariwoola & Co., a firm of legal practitioners and consultants in Oyo town in August 1989, from where he was appointed in November 1992 as a Judge of Oyo State Judiciary.
Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad
Nigeria’s chief justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad has resigned from his position, according to local media reports and his spokesperson. Muhammad, 68, has been the country’s top judge for three years but has served at the Supreme Court since 2005, cited health reasons as being behind his decision to retire.
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In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Muhammad as acting chief justice after controversially suspending his predecessor Justice Walter Onnoghen, just weeks ahead of an election in which the judiciary usually plays an important role. Muhammad’s resignation comes barely weeks after a rare complaint by 14 of Nigeria’s 16 Supreme Court justices over a number of welfare and logistical issues, including a lack of research assistants and inadequate accommodation, leaked.
CONFLICTING ORDERS: CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA INTERVENES
Other Key Figures
Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, SAN is Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1948, Chief Olujinmi holds an LLB (Hons) Degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1979.He worked at Pan-African Gas Distribution, NISER and University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1986 he established his law firm, Olujinmi and Akeredolu. He was made Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1997.
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