Retired appeal court president, Mamman Nasir dies weeks after escaping abduction in Katsina State

Justice Mamman Nasir, a retired former President of the Court of Appeal and the District Head of Malumfashi in Katsina State, has died at the age of 90. Alhaji Ibrahim Bindawa, the Information Officer, Katsina Emirate Council, made the announcement on Saturday in Katsina. He said the late Galadima-Kastina died Saturday afternoon at the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, after a protracted illness. In line with Islamic rites, a funeral prayer was conducted for him in Malumfashi at 4:00 pm. The incident comes three months after some gunmen failed in their attempt to abduct him, although one of his aides simply identified as Aminu was taken away by the kidnappers. Nasir was on Dayi-Malumfashi road in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State when some gunmen suddenly blocked the road, searching vehicles to see whom to kidnap. He quickly switched vehicles to escape the kidnappers, but his aide was not quick enough to escape and was taken away along with other travellers into nearby bushes. Justice Nasir was born in 1929 and attended Kaduna College, where he obtained the West Africa School Certificate in 1947. He later attended the University of Ibadan, where he obtained a certificate in Latin. He proceeded to the Council of Legal Education in London for his bachelor’s degree in Law in 1956, and was called to the bar Lincon Inn in the same year. He returned to Nigeria in 1956 and was appointed a Crown Counsel; and in 1961, he was appointed as Minister of Justice, Northern Nigeria a position he held for five years before he became the Director of Public Prosecution, Northern Region, in 1967, the same year he was appointed Solicitor General, North Central State, now Kaduna State. Late Justice Nasir held this position for seven years before he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1975. In 1978, he was appointed President of the Court of Appeal, a position he held until he retired in 1992 to ascend the throne of Galadima of Katsina and was turbaned on May 9, 1992. He headed the three-man committee that dismissed the allegation of lying on oath against Justice Ayo Salami, also a former President of the Appeal Court. The retired judge was also the Chairman Committee on Transition to Civil Rule during the Abacha regime. Until his death, Justice Nasir late was the Chairman of the Katsina State Development Fund, otherwise known as Gidauniyar Jihar Katsina.