Following the resignation of Justice Tanko Muhammad as the Chief Justice of Nigeria on Monday, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), swore in Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the acting CJN.
Justice Kayode Ariwoola, who was born on August 22,1958, is the most senior jurist on the Supreme Court bench.
Justice Ariwoola started his educational career in his home town Iseyin at the Local Authority Demonstration School, Oluwole, in the Iseyin Local government of Oyo State between 1959 and 1967.
He attended the Muslim Modern School in the same town between 1968 and 1969 before proceeding to Ansar-Ud-Deen High School, Saki, in Oyo-North of Oyo State.
Ariwoola studied Law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife, and bagged his Bachelor of Law degree with Honours in July, 1980.
Justice Ariwoola was called to the bar in July 1981, and got enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria as a Solicitor and Advocate soon thereafter.
On November 22, 2011, he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as Justice.
Ariwoola is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Bar Association, and the Nigerian Body of Benchers, and has attended many International and National conferences and workshops in France, Atlanta Georgia, UK and Dubai, UAE.
He was a State Counsel for the National Youth Service Corps at the Ministry of Justice, Akure, Ondo State, and later a Legal Officer in the Ministry of Justice of Oyo State until 1988 when he voluntarily left the official bar of the State Civil Service for private practice.
8 – He worked as Counsel-in-Chambers of Chief Ladosu Ladapo, SAN, between October 1988 and July 1989 when he established Olukayode Ariwoola & Co – a firm of Legal Practitioners and Consultants in Oyo town in August, 1989.
9 – He was appointed as a Judge of Oyo State Judiciary and sworn in as a Judge of the High Court November 2, 1992.
He served as Chairman, Board of Directors, Phonex Motors Ltd – one of Oodua Investment conglomerate – between 1988 and 1992.
Ariwoola served as Chairman, Armed Robbery Tribunal, Oyo State, between May 1993 and September 1996 when he was posted out of the headquarters, Ibadan, to Saki High Court.
He served on the Election Tribunals in Zamfara and Enugu States in 1999, and on Election Appeal Courts in Port-Harcourt, Enugu, Benin, Yola and Ilorin at various times.
He was sworn in as Justice of the Court of Appeal on November 22, 2005.
He was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on November 22, 2011.
Justice Ariwoola was sworn in as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday, June 27, 2022.
