The rank of retired Supreme Court Justices in Nigeria was further depleted following the death of Justice Saidu Kawu in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Kawu died on Wednesday, last week at the age of 85 after a brief illness. He was hospitalized at a private hospital penultimate Monday but died on Wednesday, throwing the Ikokoro family in Niger where he hailed from, the Ilorin Emirate community where he held a chieftaincy title, the state and the nation at large into mourning.

Undoubtedly the demise of Justice Kawu is a great loss and end of an era in the nation’s bench being one of the oldest surviving retired member of the bench who was part and parcel of the nation’s judicial evolution. His death come barely a year after the passing away of his colleague, Justice Kayode Eso, who died last November at the age of 87.

After teaching for a while in the then Ilorin Middle School, Kawu started his sojourn in the nation’s judiciary as a temporary Associate Magistrate in 1962 in the old Northern Region and by 1966 he had risen to become the Senior Magistrate Court and Chief Registrar of the Kaduna State High Court in the old Kaduna State. He rose through the ranks to become a High Court judge, pioneer Chief Judge of Kwara State and Justice of the Supreme Court.

He was appointed Supreme Court judge on August 12, 1984 and retired in 1993. Prior to that the late jurist had served in Jos, Plateau State and Kaduna before he was deployed to Kwara State in North Central Nigeria in 1970 as a High Court Judge and in November 1973, he was appointed the pioneer Chief Judge of Kwara State.

To many retired and current members of the bench, Nigeria has lost a great judicial icon, a man respected and revered by his colleagues and members of the bar not only for his sound judicial erudition but for what many people who worked with him called his incorruptibility.

His residence in Ilorin  has been receiving dignitaries from all walks of life especially members of the bar and bench who have been paying homage to the late jurist since Wednesday’s evening when he passed away. Among early callers to the residence were retired President of the Court of Appeal, (PCA) Justice Mustapha Akanbi, the immediate past PCA, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, Grand Khadi of the state Shari’a Court of Appeal, Justice Idris Haroon and pioneer Grand Khadi in the Court of Appeal, Justice Abdulkadir Orire, among others.

  He was buried the following day in accordance with Islamic rites attended by dignitaries including the state Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, Senator Bukola Saraki, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Modibbo Alfa Belgore, several members of the bar and bench both retired and serving, after the Janaza prayer led by the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Alhaji Mohammed Bashir Solihu.

Paying tribute to the late jurist, Justice Akanbi described him as an incorruptible judge who was an active member of the National Judicial Council (NJC) during his time.

He said: “For me it is a great loss. I feel a great sense of loss. I feel I have lost a senior brother, I feel I have lost a friend, I feel I have lost a colleague, a man whose life had been very, very exemplary and I pray that Almighty Allah in his infinite mercy grant him his grace upon mercy in Aljannat firdaus.

  “He was an active member of the National Judicial Council and contributed to the success of the council of that time. He was an incorruptible judge. He was a decent man. From the testimony of a number of people who have come here, I think it is better for all Nigerians to behave as he had behaved and follow his legacies to the letter.”  

In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, former President Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, noted that Nigerian judiciary was bedevilled with corruption which was not the case during Justice Kawu’s time.

The jurist charged the present generation of judges “to have courage, sincerity and love of their country and do their work dispassionately, without fear or favour.”

  He described late Justice Kawu as very honest, hard-working, and a good disciplinarian.

  “When he was Chief Judge of Kwara State, we all considered him not as a boss but as a father and he was taking us round, he was leading us. When there was an occasion, he would call all of us and we would follow him. So we were all very happy and pleased with his leadership,” he added.

Also speaking, Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Dr. Ali Ahmad, said Justice Kawu was one of those who molded the judiciary to the character that it is today.  

He said: “Justice Kawu was an icon in the annals of the judiciary of this country. He bestrode the judicial sector like a colossus. He was one of those that moulded the judiciary to the character that it is today. He was incorruptible both as the Chief Judge of Kwara State and a Justice of the Supreme Court. He participated through his administrative skills, through his judicial pronouncements the primacy of rule of law and judicial activism. He showed to us what a strong judge could do, how strong a judge, an upright judge is between the ordinary citizens and the power that be. So we would miss him not only in Kwara State but Nigeria.”

He charged other judges to, “learn from his humility, learn to respect their oath of office. This was a man that was larger than life. He never took material wealth for anything. He was content with the oath he took. It is not what you say that matters but the life that you have lived that people have seen.”

Late Justice Kawu was given the chieftaincy title of Madawaki of Ilorin, the position which he was eminently qualified for as the most elderly man in Ilorin emirate and someone who could be consulted for advice.  

According to pioneer Grand Khadi of the Court of Appeal, “he was an elderly gentleman who was a friend to everybody. He worked assiduously, honestly and justly when he was a servant of the nation. He was a High Court judge, he was in the Supreme Court and he also bagged the title of Madawaki of Ilorin; Madawaki means an elderly who the people could call for advice.