Ex-CJN, Kutigi, dies at 78
…Buhari, IBB, Saraki, Onnoghen others mourn
ALagos
Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, died yesterday in a London hospital after a brief illness. He was 78 years old.
Two of his children, Honourable Sanni Idris Kutigi, a former member of the House of Representatives and Jibrin Musa Kutigi, yesterday confirmed his death.
Jubrin wrote on his face book wall: “Inna ilaihim was inna ilahim rajiuna. Ya Allah, forgive him, pardon him of all his sins intentionally and unintentionally. Admit his soul into Aljannatu Firdausi, Ameen”.
Born in Kutigi, North-Western State (now located in the Lavun LocalGovernment Area of Niger State), Kutigi attended elementary school in that town and middle and secondary school in Bida. He then moved on to Government College (now known as Barewa College), and then to Ahmadu Bello University (both in Zaria, Kaduna State.)
He left the country for England where he studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Gibson and Weldon before returning to attend the Nigerian Law School in Lagos, Lagos State.
Kutigi served as the AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State before becoming a high court judge in 1976. He joined the Supreme Court in 1992 and served for ten years before President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him to the position of Chief Justice to succeed the outgoing Salihu Alfa Belgore. Belgore retired on January 17 and Kutigi succeeded him on January 30 after being confirmed by the Senate.
On Kutigi’s retirement on December 30, 2009, he swore in his successor, Aloysius Iyorgyer Katsina-Alu. The President of Nigeria usually swears in the Chief Justice, but was not available on that occasion due to ill health.
Justice Kutigi was made the Chairman of the Constitutional Conference set up by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2014.