By EBUN-OLU ADEGBORUWA, SAN
I join all Nigerians and the world to celebrate the life and times of one of Nigeria’s foremost jurists, Honourable Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais, former Chief Justice of Nigeria. My Lord was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple, London, in 1963 after graduating from the University of London. He served as a State Counsel and Senior State Counsel (1966-1970), before his appointment as a Judge of the High Court, and later Chief Judge, of Kaduna State (1973-1976). In 1977, he was appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal, and in 1979 as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In 1995, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council.
Justice Uwais has served as Chairman, Nigerian Body of Benchers (1993-1994), and as Chairman, Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute of Nigeria (1995- 2006). He was Chairman of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Awards of Contracts by the Military Government of North Central State (1976); Chairman of the Jimeta Disturbances Tribunal, Gongola State of Nigeria (1984); and a Commonwealth Member of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the deaths of senior army personnel, Sri Lanka (1993).
He was the Honorary President of the World Jurist Association, Washington D.C; Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London; and a Member of the Board of Trustees, Global Legal Information Network Foundation (GLIN), Washington D.C. He was Chairman of the Nigerian Electoral Reform Committee (2007-2008); and was appointed Chancellor of Umaru Musa Yar'adua University, Katsina, Katsina State in 2011.
The Honourable Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais served Nigeria as a jurist with distinction, leveraging on his exalted office to preach unity, to deliver justice to those deserving and to promote integrity on the Bench. My Lord rose from his humble background in Zaria to join the highest court of the land with an unblemished record of diligence in service. As the longest serving jurist in the Supreme Court, My Lord deployed his wealth of experience to unite the Bench and Bar, rising ultimately to the peak of his career as the one of the longest serving Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1995 to 2006. His sojourn in the court was characterized by excellence, delivering landmark judgments and making worthy contributions to the judgments of others.
However, the defining moment of My Lord’s positive impact upon our nation was when he turned in the report for electoral reforms which contained fundamental ideas for sanitizing our political space. The best way to honour this great jurist is for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revisit the Uwais Panel Report for the reform of INEC and to implement the reforms contained in the said report.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
06/06/2025
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