Nigeria's First female Chief Justice

With the nomination of Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar as the new Chief Justice of Nigeria to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, Nigeria’s apex court is set to have its first female head.Justice Mukhtar, 68 will replace Justice Dahiru Musdapher who retires as the CJN on 15 of July. Justice Mukhtar has been a trailblazer for women on the Bench in many respects. When she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005, she was the first female jurist to be appointed to the highest court in Nigeria.

Justice Muktar had also earlier made history as the first woman to be appointed into Appeal Court, Nigeria’s second highest court. Ironically, it was gathered Justice Muktar was nominated by the Kano State government to the appellate court in 1987 to pave way for a male appointee.
The incoming CJN who was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1967, a year after she was called to the English Bar is also the first female lawyer in the Northern part of the country.
Legal practitioners and colleagues described her as independent minded.