Aloma Mariam Mukhtar (born 20 November 1944) is a Nigerian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and former

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 July 2012 to November 2014. She was called to the

English Bar Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

in November, 1966 and to the

Nigerian Bar The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is a non-profit, umbrella professional association of all lawyers admitted to the bar in Nigeria. It is engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria. T ...

in 1967. On 16 July 2012,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

swore her in as the ''13th

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

, and conferred on her the Nigerian National Honour of the Grand Commander of the

Order of the Niger Nigeria became an independent country on 1 October 1960 and in 1963 became the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The republic instituted two orders of merit: the Order of the Niger and the Order of the Federal Republic. Award The two highest honou ...

(GCON).

Background

Mukhtar is from

Adamawa state Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

. She attended Saint. George’s Primary School,

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

, St. Bartholomew’s School,

Wusasa Wusasa is a town just outside the major city of Zaria in Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria. Activities of the colonial missionaries in the ancient city of Zaria forced the royal dynasty of Zaria to request them to move outside the city's ancient w ...

, Zaria, Rossholme School for Girls,

East Brent, Somerset East Brent is a village and civil parish, on the eastern edge of a hill that dominates the surrounding level countryside—Brent Knoll—close to the M5 motorway, west of Axbridge, in the Sedgemoor district of the county of Somerset, in the so ...

, England,

Reading Technical College Reading College is a further education college based in Reading, Berkshire, England. It has over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses. The Kings Road site that is the principal location of Reading College has been used for further education ...

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, England, and Gibson and Weldon College of Law,

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 ...

, before being called to the English Bar ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

'' in November, 1966.

Career

Mukhtar began her career in 1967 as Pupil State Counsel, Ministry of Justice,

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the United Kingd ...

and rose through the ranks: *Office of the Legal Draftsman, Interim Common Services Agency, Magistrate Grade I, North Eastern State Government, 1971 *Chief Registrar,

Kano State Kano State (Hausa: ''Jihar Kano''جىِهَر كَنوُ) (Fula: Leydi Kano 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤮𞥅 ) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. According to the national census done in ...

Government Judiciary, 1973 *Judge of the High Court of

, 1977—1987 *Justice of 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 ...

of Nigeria,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

, 1987—1993 *

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

of the

Supreme Court of Nigeria The Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) is the highest court in Nigeria, and is located in the Central District, Abuja, in what is known as the Three Arms Zone, so called due to the proximity of the offices of the Presidential Complex, the National Ass ...

, 2005—2012 * Justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia 2011-2012 *

, 2012—2014 In her career, Mukhtar has been many ''firsts'': she is the first female

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

from

, first female judge of the High Court in

judiciary, the first female justice of the

of Nigeria, the first female

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

of the

(certain sources have erroneously given

Roseline Ukeje Roseline or Rose Nonyem Ukeje (born 5 January 1943) is a Nigerian jurist who served as the first female Chief Judge of the High Court of Nigeria. Life Rose Nonyem Ukeje was born on 5 January 1943. She was appointed a judge of the High Court in ...

this honor) and the first female

Awards

During the course of her career she received several awards including the Nigerian national honor of Commander of the Order of Niger in 2006. Prior to that in 1993 she received a Gold Merit Award for her contribution in the development of law in Kano state and was also inducted into the Nigerian Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukhtar, Aloma Mariam 1944 births Living people Supreme Court of Nigeria justices Grand Commanders of the Order of the Niger Chief justices of Nigeria Women chief justices Nigerian women jurists

Background

Career

Awards

See also

References