Photo: The late Justice Nweze
Breaking: Supreme Court’s Justice Nweze is dead
Justice Chima Nweze of the Supreme Court of Nigeria is dead.
Nwaeze reportedly died on Sunday at the age of 64.
A family source who pleaded not to be named confirmed the death of the erudite jurist.
The apex court had yet to confirm Nweze’s death at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, has mourned the deceased.
Maikyau, in a statement issued on Monday by NBA Publicity Secretary, Akorede Lawal, said Nweze was an astute jurist whose decisions had shaped and impacted the nation’s law and jurisprudence.
The statement read, “The President of the Nigerian Bar Association has received with shock and dismay the news of the passing of Hon. Justice Chima Centus Nweze, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which sad event occurred on Sunday, July 30, 2023.
“Hon. Justice Nweze was an astute and erudite jurist. His lordship’s numerous decisions have shaped, impacted, and developed our law and jurisprudence. He was a disciplined, hardworking, and courageous judicial officer.
“The NBA President condoles with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Kayode Ariwoola, GCON, the entire Nigerian Judiciary, the Government and People of Enugu State, friends and family of Hon. Justice Nweze over the demise of his lordship and prays that the Almighty God comforts his lordship’s family and friends.”
It would be recalled that Justice Nwaeze had, in a dissenting judgment in 2020, declared Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the 2019 Governorship election in Imo State.
He was also the Justice among the panel who refused Peoples Democratic Party Atiku Abubakar’s request to inspect the Independent National Electoral Commission’s server while challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in 2019.
The deceased legal luminary, who is a native of Obollo in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, was born on September 25, 1958.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2014, when former President Goodluck Jonathan approved the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to appoint him.
