By Abubakar Imam
On Wednesday, July 10, 2024; an event of great historical significance to the people of Ilorin Emirate took place in Abuja. It was specifically at the premises of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The event was the swearing-in ceremony of the Honourable Justice Asma’u Akanbi Yusuf as a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The event was presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Tajudeen Ariwoola, GCON.
The event might mean nothing to many individuals and groups, but it should, to those of us from the Ilorin Emirate, particularly chroniclers of events and personalities. It should also be of significance to the people of Kwara State and the nation’s womenfolk.
Why did I submit so? Following the retirement of late Honourable Justice Ahmad Olarewaju Belgore from the Court of Appeal last year, a concerned indigene of Ilorin Emirate expressed regret that the fascinating presence of Ilorin Emirate in the upper echelon of the nation’s judicial system has been completely obiverated. He recalled that the community at a time could boast of two of its sons (Justice Saidu Kawu, CON; and Justice Saliu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, GCON) as Justices of the Supreme Court. The latter eventually retired as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
He added that at the same time, two indigenes of Ilorin Emirate (Justice Muhammad Mustapha Adebayo Akanbi, CFR; and Justice Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR) were Justices of the Court of Appeal. While the former eventually retired as the President of the Court, the latter retired to assume the prestigious throne of Emir of Ilorin in 1995. Justice Alfa Belgore was on the bench of the Appeal Court from 1979 to 1986 when he was promoted to the highest court of the land.
This is an addition to the presence of the Honourable Justice Mahmud Babatunde Belgore, who had been a Judge of the Federal High Court since its establishment as Federal Revenue Court in 1973. Justice M. B. Belgore, who was known as Baba Ajanaku among his contemporaries across Ilorin Emirate, later made history as the longest-serving Chief Judge of the Court. He held the position from 1987 until his retirement in 2001.
The concerned compatriot went further to say that on the retirement of the five outstanding jurists, four of whom were honoured with different honourary chieftaincy titles by one of them who became the Emir of Ilorin, two other sons of the community in the persons of Justice Ahmad Olarewaju Belgore and Justice Mudashiru Nasiru Oniyangi, also made it to the bench of the Court of Appeal.
He, therefore, expressed the fear that the glorious days of Ilorin Emirate at the nation’s superior courts of records might have gone for good. Many agreed with him as several others remain indifferent.
However, the elevation of Justice Akanbi Yusuf to the Court of Appeal has rekindled the position of optimists that Ilorin would continue to be relevant in the scheme of things in the nation’s judicial service.
Her elevation to the appealate court is not only historic but also a consolation and confirmation of better days ahead. She is, therefore, seen as “Remilekun Olasupo” as far as the place of her ancestral community in the nation’s judicial history is concerned.
For record purpose, Justice Akanbi Yusuf is the first female jurist from Ilorin Emirate elevated to the Court of Appeal. She is also the sixth indigene of Ilorin Emirate and among the first ten from Kwara State to be so privileged. I am also not aware of anyone who is a descendant of a former Head of the court appointed into the same bench before her. Other distinguished Kwarans who served at the Court of Appeal include Honourable Justice Issa Ayo Salami, OFR, who was the fifth President of the Court; Justice Moshood Oredola AbdulRahman, who was initially a Kadi of the Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal, Ilorin; the late Justice S. A. Olagunju; and the Honourable Justice Folashade Ojo, the wife of a one-time Attorney-General and Honourable Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo; SAN.
The late father of the newly inaugurated Appeal Court Justice, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, CFR, otherwise called Mr Integrity by the Nigerian press, who was elevated to the Court in 1977, was the first. He was followed by Justice Alfa Belgore, GCON, who joined him at the appealate court in 1979. The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, who was so elevated in 1983, was the third while the late Justice Ahmad Olarewaju Belgore was the fourth. The late Justice Belgore was followed by Justice Mudashiru Nasiru Oniyangi, who retired from the Court in 2022.
Justice Akanbi Yusuf the youngest of the children and the only female child of the third President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Muhammad Mustapha Adebayo Akanbi, CFR, was born in Ibadan , Oyo State, on May 20, 1979. She had her Nursery and Primary school education in Ibadan, Jos; and Ilorin. For her post-primary education, she attended the famous Offa Grammar School, Offa, from where she earned her Senior Secondary School Certificate.
She was subsequently admitted into the Faculty of Law of the nation’s most sought-after University, the University of Ilorin, where she earned her Bachelor of Law degree. Justice Yusuf was called to the Nigerian bar in 2004.
Immediately after her youth service, Justice Akanbi Yusuf joined the services of the University of Ilorin. She was an Assistant Legal Officer at the University’s Directorate of Legal Affairs from 2006 to 2007.
Justice Akanbi Yusuf later became a Magistrate in the Kwara State Judiciary. After serving in Kwara State for two years, she joined the judiciary of the Federal Capital Territory. She served as a Magistrate in the FCT between 2009 and 2018.
In 2018, Justice Akanbi Yusuf was appointed as a Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court. She was in that position before her elevation to the appealate court a few months ago.
Justice Akanbi Yusuf is happily married and blessed with three children.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
(Edited)
