Dahiru Musdapher, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, has died. He died in the early hours of Tuesday aged 75. Hie death was announced on Facebook by Muneer Musdapher, his younger brother.
“My elder brother Justice Dahiru Musdapher former CJN passed on tonight,” Muneer wrote.
Musdapher had retired from the bench five years ago after attaining the age of 70. He was appointed CJN by former President Goodluck Jonathan after Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu vacated the post.
He 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 and was one of the early private legal practitioners in the north.
In 1976 he was appointed Kaduna State attorney general and commissioner of justice. He switched to the bench in 1979 with his appointment as a high court in Kano state. He was made the state’s Chief Judge the same year.
In 1983, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal where he spent 18 years, until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2003.
