Kekere-Ekun Is Nigeria’s Next Chief Justice

By Adesina Soyooye

There was no argument on whether she would be appointed or not. Neither will she have any problems in the sending of her name to the Senate, or of a quick confirmation by the Senate.

This means that she is not likely to suffer the fate of Honourable Justice Walter Onnoghen, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, whose recommendation to the Senate for confirmation was so inexplicably delayed by former President Muhammadu Buhari that it caused a national uproar, almost. Onnoghen was, later, forced to retire in a humiliating manner.

The Lagos State-born Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun will have a smooth sail both at the Presidency and the Senate on her journey the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The National Judicial Council, NJC, kicked it off on Thursday, August 15, by recommending her to President Bola Tinubu for appointment as the next Chief Justice of Nigeria.

As the current second most Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the NJC had no problems recommending her to the President  during its 106th meeting to succeed the CJN  Olukayode Ariwoola who presided over the meeting.

Ariwoola will retire on August 22, 2024, the day he would be 70 years.

On confirmation, the Honourable Justice Kekere-Ekun will be the second female Judge to occupy the high profile office of the CJN, and not a few women are celebrating already. The first was  Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar who was the CJN  from 2012 to 2014. She served for  28 months before she retired at the age of 70 years.

The  outgoing CJN Ariwoola,  assumed office on June 27, 2022.

The incoming CJN,  Kekere-Ekun, 66 years old, will, all things being equal, stay in office longer than her predecessors who spent, on the average, two years in office.

There has been a clamour for the extension of the retiring age of Judges.

Until then Kekere-Ekun is guaranteed about four years in office. She was appointed to the Supreme Court eleven years ago.

Born on May 7, 1958, the Honourable Justice Kekere-Ekun obtained her LLB in 1980 from the University of Lagos and LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science in November 1983. She was called to the Nigerian Bar on 10th July, 1981.