Supreme Court gets new Chief Registrar

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has approved the appointment of Mrs Hadizatu Mustapha as the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

Mustapha is to replace Ahmed Saleh, current chief registrar, who has been appointed the new secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The senior special assistant on media and publicity to the CJN, Mr Awassam Bassey, also disclosed that Mustapha’s appointment was contained in a letter signed by the secretary of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), Bilikisu Bashir.

Bassey said, “Until her appointment, Mrs. Mustapha, was the deputy chief registrar of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),

“Born in Gwoza in Borno State on the 8th August 1961, Hadizatu Mustapha holds a Bachelor of Law (LL.B) degree from the University of Maiduguri which she earned in 1984 before attending the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos, for her Barrister at Law (BL) programme in 1985.”

The statement further reads in part, “After her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 1986, Mrs. Mustapha joined the Borno State Ministry of Justice, Maiduguri, in 1987 as State Counsel 11 before rising to state Counsel 1 (1990-1993); She became Senior State Counsel (1993-1996); Assistant Director (1996-1999), and Acting Director, Citizens Rights Department (1999-2000).

“Between 2000 and 2004, Mrs. Hadizatu Mustapha was the chief enterprise officer of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE), Abuja, where she was the acting secretary to three committees: policy and monitoring committee, transactions marketing committee, and industrial manufacturing committee.

“In 2004, Mrs. Hadizatu Mustapha returned to the Borno state ministry of justice as the acting director of public prosecution before joining the Borno state government as senior special assistant on administration to the governor.

“She was then appointed director of legal services to the Borno State Independent Electoral Commission in 2007.

“After a four-year stint in the private sector, Mrs. Mustapha joined the Sharia Court of Appeal in the Federal Capital Territory in 2011 as the Deputy Chief Registrar, a position she maintained till her current appointment as the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”

But Mustapha was said to be the former senior special assistant to National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff.

Mustapha’s appointment comes at a time the battle between Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi -led faction of the PDP is before the Supreme Court as the duo are laying claim to the authentic leadership of the PDP.