Tanko Muhammad


Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad CFR is a Nigerian Jurist, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria. He was formerly a Justice of the Nigerian Courts of Appeal.

Early life

Justice Tanko was born on 31 December 1953 at Doguwa - Giade, a local government area in Bauchi State, Northern Nigeria.
He attended Government Secondary School, Azare where he obtained the West Africa School Certificate in 1973 before he later proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University where he received an LL.B. degree in Islamic Law in 1980. He later obtained an LL.M. degree and a Ph.D. in Law from the same university in 1985 and 1998 respectively.

Law career

Tanko began his career in 1982, after he was Called to the bar in 1981, the same year he graduated from the Nigerian Law School.
In 1989, he was appointed as Chief Magistrate of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, a position he held until 1991 when he became a Judge at the Bauchi State Sharia Court of Appeal. He served in that capacity for two years before he was appointed to the bench of the Nigerian courts of appeal as Justice in 1993. He held this position for thirteen years before he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2006 but was sworn in on 7 January 2007.
On Thursday, 11 July 2019, Tanko Muhammed was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as substantive CJN. This is coming barely 24 hours after National Judicial Council recommended him to the president.