Female justice Kekere-Ekun set to succeed controversial CJN Ariwoola as Chief Justice of Nigeria

Barring any last-minute developments, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun will on August 22, take over from Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

It has been the tradition of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which has the CJN as its chairman, to recommend the most senior Justice of the Supreme Court to the President for appointment to the office of the CJN.

Justice Ariwoola will, on August 22, bow out of service after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Already, a valedictory court session in honour of retiring Justice Ariwoola has been fixed for Thursday, August 22.

Ariwoola, who hails from Oyo State, was appointed CJN on October 12, 2022, after the retirement of Justice Tanko Mohammed from Bauchi State.

If Justice Kekere-Ekun, who is the most senior Justice of the Apex Court, is appointed, she would become the second female Justice of the Apex Court to hold the exalted position after Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who was CJN between July 2012 and November 2014.

Already, the NJC, which oversees the appointment, promotion, and discipline of judges in the country, will, at its meeting scheduled for Friday, August 16, take final decision on the appointment of Justice Kekere-Ekun to replace the outgoing Ariwoola as Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The Supreme Court currently has a full complement of 21 Justices

After 11 years at the Supreme Court Bench, 66-year-old Justice Kekere-Ekun, who was born on May 7, 1958, will steer the judiciary for four years till 2028, when she will clock the mandatory retirement age of 70.

A life bencher, Justice Kekere-Ekun started her career in private practice from 1985 to 1989, after which she was appointed as a Senior Magistrate Grade II, Lagos State Judiciary, in December 1989.

She was appointed a judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996. She served as Chairman of the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja, Lagos, from November 1996 to May 1999.

She was elevated to the Court of Appeal on September 22, 2004, where she served in various divisions of the court and as presiding justice of two divisions of the court in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Kekere-Ekun was elevated to the Supreme Court bench as the fifth female justice of the court on Monday, July 8, 2013.

She obtained her LL.B. in 1980 from the University of Lagos and her LL.M. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in November 1983. She was called to the Nigerian Bar on July 10, 1981.