Flags in All Courts to be Flown at Half-mast in Honour of Katsina-Alu

By Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has directed that the National flag in all Court premises and institutions of the Judiciary in the country should be flown at half-mast for seven days effective Wednesday, July 18 in honour of late ex-CJN Aloydius Katsina-Alu.

Katsina-Alu, who was CJN between 2009 and 2011, died in a hospital in Abuja on Wednesday.

Onnoghen, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Awassam Bassey, also directed that  registers should be opened in all courts in the country and related institutions of the Judiciary.

In a message of condolence sent to the family of Katsina-Alu, Onnoghen urged family members of the deceased to “take solace in the fact that their late patriarch lived a fulfilled life in his 76 years sojourn on earth, rising to the peak of his chosen career when he served his country as Chief Justice of Nigeria from December 30, 2009 to August 2011.”

The statement said: “The Chief Justice, on behalf of the Nigerian Judiciary, prays for the peaceful repose of Justice Katsina-Alu and for God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

Late Justice Katsina-Alu, who was born on 28 August 1941 in Ushongo in present day Benue State started his career on the bench in 1979, following his appointment as a judge of the Benue State High Court, and rose to the pinnacle of the nation’s judiciary.