Ex-CJN Katsina-Alu dies at 76

A former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysious Katsina-Alu, is dead KatsinaAlu, who headed the Nigerian judiciary between 2009 and 2011, reportedly died at an Orthopaedic Hospital in Abuja in the early hours of yesterday.
The former CJN, who hailed from Ushongo local government area of Benue state, died at the age of 76 after a brief illness.
Katsina-Alu, it would be recalled, succeeded Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi as CJN in December 2009, when he took over the mantle of leadership of the judiciary within the period that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was critically ill, and failed to hand over to the then Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, a situation that made the then CJN, Kutigi, to perform the swearing in ceremony on behalf of the ailing President.
Katsina-Alu served as CJN till August 2011 when he was succeeded by the late Justice Dahiru Musdapher.
Media aide to the incumbent CJN, Mr.
Awassam Bassey, while confirming his death, said the news was relayed to the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court by Katsina-Alu’s aide.
Bassey said his principal, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is currently attending a conference in Canada, had yet to hear about the ex-CJN’s demise.
“I can confirm that the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mrs.
Hadizatu Mustapha, sent me a WhatsApp message to that effect about an hour ago confirming the death of the former CJN.
Katsina-Alu was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1968, a year after his call to the British Bar in 1967.
He became a member of the Bench in 1979.
From Ushongo in Benue state, Katsina-Alu, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1998 and became the Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2009.

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