President Goodluck Jonathan has appointed Rtd Justice Legbo Kutigi as the
Chairman of the National Conference while Prof Bolaji Akinyemi is the Vice
Chairman.
Dr (Mrs) Nanadi Azenge is appointed as the Secretary of the Conference.
The leadership of the conference are to commence work on Wednesday March
5, 2014
Born in Kutigi, North-Western State (now located in the Lavun Local
Government 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 the Gibson and Weldon College of Law, before returning to
attend the Nigerian Law School in Lagos, Lagos State.
Kutigi served as the Attorney General 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 normally swears in
the Chief Justice, but was not available due to illness.