Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar was commissioned by President Jonathan on July 16.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria on Monday July 16 swore in the country’s first female Chief Justice or President of the Supreme Court, Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar, urging her to effectively apply justice in fighting corruption and terrorism. He also conferred on her the national honour, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
Aged 68, Mariam Alooma becomes the 13th indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria since 1958. Speaking at the event at the Presidential Villa in the capital, Abuja, President Jonathan implored the new CJN to use her high office to ensure the timely delivery of justice. He warned that impunity must have no place in a progressive Nigeria, the Leadership newspaper said.
Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar replaces Justice Dahiru Musdapher who retired on July 14 having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70. Born in Kano State in northern Nigeria, she was the first female Northerner to become a lawyer. She was also the first woman to be appointed Justice of the Court of Appeal.
She later became the first female Justice of the Court of Appeal to make it to the Supreme Court. Justice Mukhtar is set to make another record in 2014 when she retires to become member of Nigeria’s highest advisory council, the Council of State. She will thus become the Council’s first female permanent member.
After her education in Nigeria and Britain, she was called to the English Bar in November 1966 and to the Nigerian Bar in 1967.
