By Busari Kabirat
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun emerges the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), she is the 23rd Chief Justice of Nigeria appointed by President Bola Tinubu and had been sworn in Abuja at the State House where she took her Oaths.
Shw will be operating as acting CJN until she will be confirmed by the Senate and will be assuming her new role as CJN following her nomination and presentation to President Tinubu by the National Judicial Council (NJC) on August 15 after the retirement of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.
She started her career in the judiciary as a Senior Magistrate II in the Lagos State Judiciary after which she was upgraded to Judge at the State High Court and she is also the second Nigerian female jurist to serve as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, after which Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, served as the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria between July 2012 and November, 2014.
She was given birth to in London, United Kingdom on May 7, 1958.
She obtained her first degree in law at the University of Lagos in 1980, followed by her completion in the Nigeria Law School and was was called to the Nigerian Bar on July 10, 1981.
She proceeded to acquire her Master of Law at the School of Economics in London in November 1983.
She has also served as the Chairman of the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja from November 1996 to May 1999, after which she was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2004 in recognition of her contribution to the development of the judiciary.
Dignitaries who were present at the swearing event includes other Justices of the Supreme Court; the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio; the leadership of the House of Representatives, represented by Prof Julius Ihonbvere; the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwoolu; and immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
