Born November 24th 1944, Mrs Muktar is a Nigerian Jurist who was called to the Nigerian bar in 1967, a year after she was called to the English bar, she was also the first female to be appointed Justice of the Supreme Court, in 2005.
In her career, Mrs Mukhtar has been many firsts: she is the first female lawyer from Northern Nigeria first female judge of the High Court in Kano State judiciary, the first female justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (certain sources have erroneously given Roseline Ukeje this honor and the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria.
During the course of her career she received several awards including the Nigerian national honor of Commander of the Order of Niger in 2006. Prior to that in 1993 she received a Gold Merit Award for her contribution in the development of law in Kano state and was also inducted into the Nigerian Hall of Fame in 2005.
Mrs. Mukhtar will best be remembered for being one of the three judges who nullified the 2007 presidential elections that brought in late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Along with George Oguntade and Walter Onnoghen, Mrs Mukhtar ruled that the several violations of the electoral law particularly non-serialization of ballot papers used for the Presidential election was enough to disqualify the election.
