THE level of impact he made in office as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) was amazing, considering the fact that he had the record of being the first CJN with the shortest time within which to work. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, immediate past CJN, who can be easily described as an apostle of judicial reform, came to the saddle when the rot and crisis in the judiciary were rising to a crescendo. The clarion call at that time was for one who could clean up the Augean Stable that the judiciary had become by restoring confidence in the judicial system - a system allegedly full of rot that the infamous Katsina-Alu/Salami scandal was merely the most visible symptom of the systemic malaise.

Though the appointment of Justice Musdapher was consistent with the tradition of appointing the ranking justices of the Supreme Court, critics who yearned for a more ‘radical’ candidate were not assuaged. Worst still, Musdapher had barely a year to leave office from the time of his appointment due to the mandatory 70 years’ retirement benchmark.

A few months into office, he quietly engineered a revolution in the most conservative arm of government. His mantra was: ‘judicial reform’. At a stakeholders’ meeting for the reform of the Nigerian judiciary held in October 2011, he said: “Every aspect of our responsibilities must be scrutinised, improved and realigned towards reform.”

Surely aware of the little time he has, the respected jurist brought in innovations at what is considered a dizzying pace in the very conservative sector - judiciary.

In one of his earliest speeches, Justice Musdapher noted the angst of the society against the judiciary and said most of it was justified. He said: “We must admit that the quality and timeliness of the trial process, procedural inefficiencies… declining intellectual quality and reasoning content of delivered judgments, corruption, as well as the effects of unrestrained quest for political power, have all served to disrupt the efficiency of the judiciary and damaged its perception.”

In November 2011, at the fifth Annual General Conference of the Section on Legal Practice of the NBA, he proposed a series of radical measures to revamp the judiciary.

First, he queried the whole idea of a holding charge, which he said, contributes largely to prison congestion. “The state cannot incarcerate its citizen while scrambling for evidence to build a case against him”, he said. He also came down hard on the illegal system of parading suspects on television, and the spurious injunctions given by judges against law enforcement agents - unwittingly preventing them from arresting criminals.

And perhaps none of his pronouncements caused as much ripples as his disavowal of plea-bargain. He said: “This is a novel concept of dubious origin. It has no place in our law. It was invented to provide soft landing to high profile criminals who loot the treasury entrusted to them. It is an obstacle to our fight against corruption.”

Again, at a lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Justice Musdapher, stunned the audience when he issued a virtual practice direction to judges handling corruption cases to ensure that they conclude trial within six months or dismiss such cases if the prosecution is not willing to pursue the matter diligently. Without doubt, this is one of the most profound measures taken to fight corruption.

To show leadership by example, he, in a landmark decision where he led four other justices of the Supreme Court, ordered the governorship election tribunals sitting in Benue and Akwa Ibom states to hear afresh the petitions challenging the elections of two governors of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Gabriel Suswam and Godswill Akpabio. Earlier, the Courts of Appeal sitting in Makurdi and Uyo had dismissed the petitions against the governors on the ground that pre-hearing notices were filed ex-parte without leave of the tribunal. But Justice Musdapher in his decision queried the decision of the lower court. He asked: “What is the difference between a letter and ex-parte motion? Everybody is watching us. I am begging you, in the name of justice, matters should be decided on their merits not on technicalities.”

Justice Musdapher’s emphasis was on the need for judicial reform and no doubt the message is beginning to take root.

Before his appointment as the CJN, he had in 2007 delivered a landmark judgment on suit no: SC121/2002 between owners of MV Gongola Hope & Anr.... (appellant) and Smurfit Cases Nigeria Ltd & Anr.... (respondent) where he led four other justices of the apex court and held that when a contract of carriage is breached in such a manner and when no explanation is offered as to how the loss occurred and where the shipper pleads and proves fraud, misrepresentation and negligence, the Hague Rules and the per package limitation will not apply. See the Pembroke (1993) Lloyds Rep 230, The Canda (1989)2 Lloydds REP. 494.

“I accordingly discountenance the two issues formulated by the appellants and consequently strike out the appeal as incompetent”, he had held.

Justice Musdapher was born on July 15, 1942, at Babura, Bababura Local Council Area in Jigawa State. Though he comes from a very large family, he is the only child from his mother Hajia Hazida (who is still alive). Interestingly, his wife is also an only child from her mother. Unlike most other men from his time, he has only one wife, Hajia Fatimah Dahiru-Musdapher (nee Suleiman Galadima) with whom he has three children.

The circumstance under which he was enrolled in school is quite interesting. This is because he did not actually enroll in the customary way. He spent only two years in the elementary school before moving to the middle level where the teachers were convinced that the young lad must have been memorising the dictionary as his vocabulary was clearly beyond his age! Through the traditional language and grammar, as well as the foundational principles of Islamic law, the knowledge he garnered gave him invaluable insight when adjudicating on issues related to the Shariah and is generally regarded as an authority and reference point on the subject.

Justice Musdapher speaks fluent Arabic. This is how he recalled the incident that took him to primary school: “Whenever my senior brothers and sisters were going to the school, I had nowhere else to go and play, so I followed them to the school. I would stand by the window, looking inside. This was in the early 1950s. I was very intelligent in those days, and many a times a question would be asked in the class that none of the pupils in the class could answer. The teacher was Mohamed Ibrahim. He asked a question about what was read the previous week and nobody could answer the question, so I answered it. He then dragged me inside the classroom and I sat down. That was the beginning of my primary education. Long before that time, my father was the first teacher in the school. And as God would have it, I spent only two years there instead of the normal four years before I went to Birnin Kudu Middle School in January 1954.

While in Rumfa College, he was consistently one of the best students in the school. He was classmate to several other distinguished Nigerians including late General Sani Abacha; late Alhaji Adamu Dankabo (founder and chairman of Nigeria’s first indigenous private commercial airline – Kabo Air), Justice R. D. Mohammed and many others. Justice Musdapher left for the United Kingdom to conclude his legal training in 1964. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1968. Unlike most of his colleagues and seniors who opted for a career in public service from the onset, he chose to pursue a career in private legal practice together with the late Kaloma Ali in Kano. Why did he choose a private practice instead? He explained: “Of all the students who enjoyed a scholarship from the Northern Nigerian government to study law, I was one of the first to engage in private legal practice. I didn’t work for the government. You know why? When we were in school in England, the allowance for those of us who were not married was 57 pounds. And when you came to work as a senior civil servant, the salary was 60 pounds per month, and you had to pay taxes, pay for housing, pay for the car. I felt that was not good enough.”

During those early years, he was one of the most sought after legal practitioners throughout the northern region. He made appearances before all the High Courts of the Northern Region.

Public service came to him when he was approached to serve as Attorney General of the Old Kaduna State, even though he was from Kano State. He accepted the appointment and served under three military administrators from 1976 to 1979. During the period, he enjoyed the privilege of attending the joint meetings of the Supreme Military Council and Council of State as an advisor to the government of Kaduna State. In addition, he became a member of the Body of Benchers by virtue of his position and has remained a member of the body till date. He is one of the longest serving members of the body and has since been made a ‘life bencher’. In 1979, he was appointed the chief judge of the High Court of Kano State as he took over from Justice R. Jones (a British expatriate). During his six-year tenure at the helm of the Kano State judiciary, a new court complex was completed and still remains as the main court complex till date.   Interestingly, the building has since been named after him as a testament to his contributions to the Kano State Judiciary.

He served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal between 1985 and 2003 before being appointed Justice of the Supreme Court in 2003.

In August 2011, Justice Musdapher became the Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an enviable position he held till his retirement on July 15, 2012.