By Agency Report
The former Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Kate Abiri, is dead, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Chief Registrar at State Judiciary Headquarters, High Court, Amaebi Orukari, in a statement issued on Thursday in Yenagoa, said the former chief judge died on Thursday during a brief illness at the age of 65.
“With a deep sense of loss, the Honourable Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Hon. Justice Matilda Abrakasa Ayemieye, announces the demise of Hon. Justice Kate Abiri, CON, whose sad event occurred on the 3rd of August, 2023.
“The Hon. Justice Kate Abiri passed on after a brief illness at the Glory Land Hospital, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. She was the immediate past Chief Judge of Bayelsa State,” he said.
Mr Orukari said that the state judiciary would miss the late jurist’s pioneering efforts in information technology, infrastructural development, and contribution to the legal community and the state in general.
According to him, the burial arrangements will be announced after consultation with the family.
NAN recalls that Mrs Abiri retired from the state judiciary on 13 January, after serving as chief judge for 15 years and clocking the mandatory retirement age of 65.
NAN also reports that the deceased was appointed chief judge by former Governor Timipre Sylva in 2008 after a protracted battle, led by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yenagoa branch.
NBA had demanded for Mrs Abiri’s appointment, following the recommendation by National Judicial Commission (NJC).
NAN reports that the late Mrs Abiri was the first female judge in Nigeria’s history to swear-in the highest number of state chief executives, even beyond her state, as a chief judge.
(NAN)
