Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais 1936-2025

The mood of the celebration of the Sallah of Nigeria on June 6, 2025 was dampened following the passage of one of the legal luminaries of Nigeria, the judge Muhammad Lawais. He was 89 years old.

The life of Justice Uwais was a testimony of resilience, hard work and pure commitment for a cause and a profession. Born on June 12, 1936, the deceased Uwais lost his father while he was only six years old and was raised by his mother, sister and half -brother.

He started his education at the Native Authority Elementary School, Kaduna, in 1945 and after his primary education, he obtained admission to Zaria Middle School, where he had a period of two years before being admitted to Barewa College, Zaria.

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The journey of judge Uwais in the legal profession began while at Barewa College, where he developed interest in the study of the law. Upon completion of module 6, in 1957, he asked for a scholarship of the government of northern Nigeria to study law in the United Kingdom. His first attempt failed because the telegram that invited him to an interview came late. Even his second attempt failed because he was neglected. His ambition to study the law has succeeded through a special agreement by the government of the northern region to strengthen the workforce in the judiciary of the region.

After his training, the deceased judge Uwais was a councilor of the Ministry of Justice, increasing to become the lawyer General in the deceased central state of the North. His journey on the bench began in 1972, when he was only 36 years old and four years later, in 1976, he was appointed head of state justice. Later he was appointed judge of the Court of Appeal in 1977 and a justice of the Supreme Court in 1979. In 1995, the deceased Uwais became the main judge of Nigeria, a position he held until he retired in 2006. It was the second longer CJN in the country.

The period of his mandate, which has transcended military and civil administrations, has seen a considerable improvement in the administration of justice in the country with historical judgments that have set priority in the nation’s legal field.

Also retired, judge Uwais continued to serve the nation with distinction. As President of the Electoral Reformation Committee established in 2007, it formulated large -scale recommendations, which suggested the separation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INC), the creation of the commission for electoral crimes, among others. These proposals remain fundamental points of reference in the current national conversations on the electoral reform.

The public life of Late Justice Uwais has actually influenced a broad spectrum of Nigerians given the praise of the slopes from all over Nigeria.

In his message of condolences, President Bola Tinubu described him as “a phenomenal and statesman jurist who served Nigeria with honor, courage and exceptional integrity.

“Many extraordinary Highpoints have distinguished the illustrious career of Justice Uwais on the bench. He has supervised the judiciary in a demanding moment in our history with touch, patience and sense of duty. This stabilizing role has helped to inaugurate the current democratic pantry, which had the distinct honor of using them in the main judge of Nigeria, who swore in the president elected in May, 1999.

“In active and retired service, the deceased Uwais judge has maintained a dignified person, gaining him compared beyond his immediate electoral college,” said Tinubu.

The association of Nigerian lawyers (NBA) in a condolence message stated that judge Uwais was more than a jurist.

“It was a pillar of the Nigerian judiciary and a lighthouse of integrity, scholarship and reform. His mandate as head of Nigeria, from 1995 to 2006, remains one of the most decisive periods in the history of the management of the nation. Exceptional intellectual depth, judge Uwais issued historical judgments that significantly advanced the constitutional interpretation and civil freedoms in Nigeria.

But perhaps no one has better described the contributions of the late Uwais judge to the judiciary compared to the former vice -president, Yemi Osinbajo, who said in tribute: “In the annals of the Nigerian constitutional history, few jurists have left a permanent and transformative legacy such as that of the Hon. Muhammed Lawal Uwais.

“While his mandate on the bench of the Supreme Court was the longest in the history of the Court, it was his years as the main judge – from the twilight of the military domination to the dawn of the fourth republic – which would have defined his judicial legacy.

“By presiding over the Supreme Court during a fragile transition from self -acting to democracy, Uwais led the Court through some of the most consequential constitutional battles in the federal evolution of Nigeria.

“Between 1999 and 2007, his court was called to judge in at least a dozen cases in which state governments contested the overcoming of the federal government, testing the boundaries of the Nigerian federal structure.

“The controversies concerned radical, new and vast scope of constitutional issues that required intellectual clarity, institutional courage and unshakable loyalty to the Constitution.

“Judge Uwais climbed at that moment with determination of principle. Without drama or personal posture, he insisted on the fact that the Constitution – not political convenience – has not always prevailed. His judgments reflected a profound understanding of federalism not as an ideal theoretical, but as a living structure that required balance, responsibility and mutual respect among the levels of the government.

“The Constitution, not political convenience, must always prevail. His judgments reflect a profound understanding of federalism not as an ideal theoretical, but as a living structure that requires balance, responsibility and mutual respect among the levels of the government.”

We at Daily Trust extend our condolences to the family of the deceased judge Muhammad Lawal Uwais. May Aljannah Firdiusi be his final home.