Chief Justice of Nigeria

The judiciary arm of Nigeria is headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria or CJN. The Chief Justice of Nigeria presided over The Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Nigerian apex court. Since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, the Chief Justice have been appointed to head the Judiciary system.

The first Chief Justice of Nigeria was Sir Edwin Speed. However, towards Nigerian Independence, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola was appointed as the first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria. Aloma Mariam Mukhtar was the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria is appointed by the president and confirmed by the upper chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate.

List of Chief Justice of Nigeria till date.

Chief Justice	Term
Sir Edwin Speed	1914–1918
Sir Ralph Combe	1918–1929
Donald Kingdon	1929–1946
Sir John Verity	1946–1954
Sir Stafford Sutton	1955–1958
Sir Adetokunbo Ademola (First Indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria)	1958–1972
Taslim Olawale Elias	1972–1975
Darnley Arthur Alexander	1975–1979
Atanda Fatai Williams	1979–1983
George Sodeinde Sowemimo	1983–1985
Ayo Gabriel Irikefe	1985–1987
Mohammed Bello	1987–1995
Muhammad Lawal Uwais	1995–2006
Salihu Moddibo Alfa Belgore	2006–2007
Idris Legbo Kutigi	2007–2009
Aloysius Iyorgyer Katsina-Alu	2009–2011
Dahiru Musdapher	2011–2012
Aloma Mariam Mukhtar (First Female Chief Justice of Nigeria)	2012–2014
Mahmud Mohammed	2014–2016
Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen	2017–2019
Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad	2019–present