Aloysius Iyorgyer Katsina-Alu (28 August 1941 – 18 July 2018) was a Nigerian jurist and lawyer who served as

Chief Justice of Nigeria The Chief Justice of Nigeria or CJN is the head of the judicial arm of the government of Nigeria, and presides over the country's Supreme Court and the National Judicial Council. The current Chief Justice is Olukayode Ariwoola who was appo ...

from 2009 to 2011.

Early life and education

Katsina-Alu was born on August 28, 1941, in Benue State and he started his early education at St Anne's Primary School Tarungwa and St. Patricks Primary School Taraku, before he went to Mount St. Michaels Secondary School Aliede, in

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is th ...

. He later enrolled at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, in 1962, from where he moved over to Mons Military Training College, Aldershot,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His interest in a military career was short-lived as he returned to the country to pursue a degree in law at the

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

, Zaria. In 1964, he proceeded to the Inns of Court School of Law, Gibson and Weldon College of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, in furtherance of his legal studies.

Career

He was called to the English Bar in October 1967 and the Nigerian Bar on June 28, 1968. He began his legal career in July 1968 as a private lawyer in Lagos. He then he became a Legal Officer at the Nigeria Ports Authority NPA, Lagos between 1969 and 1977. After leaving NPA, Katsina-Alu became the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Benue State in 1978, a position he held until 1979 when he was appointed a judge of the Benue State High Court. From the High Court in Benue, he was elevated to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in 1985, where he served until November 1998, when he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court. He was sworn in as Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on 25 November 1998 and after spending 11 years on the Bench he became the 11th

on December 30, 2009. He retired from this exalted position on August 26, 2011, having clocked the mandatory age of retirement 70 years. He was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday 30 December 2009 by his predecessor as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,

Idris Legbo Kutigi Idris Legbo Kutigi (31 December 1939 – 21 October 2018) was a Nigerian lawyer and jurist. He was Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State before becoming a high court judge. He joined the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1992 a ...

. There was some controversy over the ceremony, since in all previous ceremonies the Oath of Office was administered by the President of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. However, President

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

was unavailable on account of ill health since November 2009, and had failed to hand over to his vice president.

Death

He died on 18 July 2018 at an orthopedic Hospital in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. He died at the age of 76.

References

Supreme Court of Nigeria justices 1941 births 2018 deaths People from Benue State Chief justices of Nigeria {{nigeria-law-bio-stub