Ex-CJN, Dahiru Musdapher, dies at 75

A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, died on Monday evening at a London Hospital at the age of 75.

A agency report said a family member of the deceased, Hajiya Halima Sulaiman, confirmed Justice Musdapher death .

She said that Justice Musdapher died after battling with kidney related disease and had been on admission in the hospital for the past five months.

The deceased, according to her, left behind a wife and three children among whom are Hadiza Dahiru Mustapha, a magistrate, and Kaloma Mustapha, a media aide to Jigawa State Governor, Badaru Abubakar.

The remains of the deceased were yet to arrive and it was not certain as to where he would be buried.

The Jigawa born Musdapher was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Aug. 27, 2011 and sworn in by former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Aug. 29, 2011.

Musdapher was educated at the Ahmadu Bello University and the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
He was called to the Nigerian bar in 1968.

He began his legal practice as one of the early private legal practitioners in northern Nigeria.
In 1976 he was appointed Kaduna State attorney general and commissioner of justice

He served as Chief Judge of Kano State between 1979 and 1985.

Musdapher, a native of Babura town, served as a member of the Court of Appeal between 1985 and 2003, and later joined the Supreme Court.

Immediately after his death was confirmed on Tuesday family members took to social media to break the news.

“My elder brother Justice Dahiru Musdapher former CJN passed on tonight,” Muneer Musdapher, a younger brother of the former CJN wrote on Facebook.

Andrew Orolua, Abuja.