Justice Akanbi for Burial Sunday

Former head of Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, will be buried Sunday, just hours after his death.

One of the children of the late legal luminary, Dr. Usman Akanbi, confirmed the burial to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Ilorin.

He said the pioneer ICPC chairman died around 1:00 a.m on Sunday and that he will be buried according to Islamic rites Sunday afternoon.

Born on September 11, 1932, in Accra, Ghana, Justice Akanbi was appointed the ICPC chairman by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 and served until 2005.

He obtained a scholarship to study law at the Institute of Administration, now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He then went for further legal studies in the United Kingdom.

He was called to the English Bar in 1963, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in January 1964.

He joined the Ministry of Justice and became a Senior State Counsel in 1968.

In 1969, he set up a private practice in Kano. In 1974, he was appointed a judge of the Federal Revenue Court and in January 1977 he was elevated to the Court of Appeal Bench.

In 1992, he was made President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, a position he held until retiring in 1999. (NAN)