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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
With just nine days for the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to bow out of office, Justice Kudirat Motonmori Kekere-Ekun is set to emerge as his successor.
If she assumes the office, Kekere-Ekun would become the second female to hold the exalted position of CJN, after Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who occupied the office between July 2012 and November 2014.
Ariwoola, who assumed office on June 27, 2022, will officially leave on Thursday, August 22, 2024 after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
Barring any last minute change, and as the most senior justice of the Supreme Court, Kekere-Ekun will step into the position.
The incoming CJN, who is 66 years old, may spend four years, compared to the average of two years most of her predecessors stayed in office.
After 11 years at the apex court, Kekere-Ekun will not only become the next CJN but also head the National Judicial Council (NJC), which oversees the appointment, promotion, and discipline of judges across the country.
Kekere-Ekun, who has been desrcibed as a ‘no nonsesnse’ judge hails from Lagos State.
About Kekere-Ekun
Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun was born on May 7, 1958 in London, United Kingdom.
She obtained a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Lagos in 1980, and was called to the Nigerian bar on July 10, 1981, after graduating from the Nigerian Law School. She then proceeded to the London School of Economics where she obtained a master’s degree in law in November 1983.
Kekere-Ekun joined the Lagos State Judiciary as Senior Magistrate II and rose to the position of a State High Court judge. She served as Chairman of Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja between November 1996 to May 1999.
She was appointed to the bench of the Court of Appeal in 2004, before her appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in July 2013.
Kekere-Ekun was on the seven-member panel that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State Governor, and declared Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who originally came fourth in the election, as the winner. She was also a member of the five-man panel that ordered Oyo State Government to pay each council chairmen and councillors sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde their accrued salaries and allowances in 2021.
She was conferred with the Nigerian national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) by President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2022.
