Chukwunweike Idigbe (1923-1983) was a justice 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 ...

, he was appointed to the position on April 10, 1964. He later served as Chief Justice of the Mid-Western region.

Life

Idigbe was born to family of Ignatious and Christiana Idigbe in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nige ...

, both parents were from

Asaba Asaba is the capital city of Delta State, Nigeria. It is located at the western bank of the Niger River, in the Oshimili South Local Government Area. Asaba had a population of 149,603 as at the 2006 census, and a metropolitan population of o ...

Delta State and in 1977, Justice Idigbe was bestowed the traditional chieftaincy title of Izoma of Asaba. His father was a produce officer with a marketing board and later appointed as a member of the Western House of Chiefs representing Asaba under the Action Group. Idigbe started education at Stella Maris College, Port Harcourt. In 1937, he attended

Christ the King College, Onitsha Christ the King College, Onitsha (CKC), popularly known as CKC Onitsha, or Amaka Boys, is a Catholic all-boys secondary school in Onitsha, Nigeria. It is ranked the top-ranked high school in Nigeria and 36th in the top 100 best high schools in Af ...

and then proceeded to study law at King's College London and

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

(Inns Court of London) where he finished with a LL.B. Second Class Upper Division. He was called to the bar in 1947 and thereafter established a private law practice in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial ...

that covered the Western African Court of Appeal. On May 22, 1961, he was appointed a judge of the Western Nigeria High court. He was made a supreme Court Justice in 1964 and from 1966 to 1967, he served concurrently as the Chief Justice of the newly created Mid-Western region. However, in 1967, by virtue of his hometown, Idigbe was on the

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

n in the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

and ceased to be a Nigerian judge. In 1972, he joined Irving and Bonnar, a private firm and three years later, he was re-appointed a judge in the Supreme Court. As a judge he was chairman of a land use committee set up to review the land tenure system in Nigeria.

References

Nigerian jurists 1923 births 1983 deaths Alumni of King's College London Supreme Court of Nigeria justices {{Nigeria-bio-stub