I Annulled June 12, Not IBB - Dahiru Saleh

Justice Dahiru Saleh

Justice Dahiru Saleh is the Judge who made the judicial pronouncement annulling the June 12, 1993 presidential election, an action that plunged the country into a major political crisis. In this encounter with The Interview he attempts to explain the circumstances surrounding the infamous ruling he gave from the Bench…

What made you choose law as a profession?

When I was in secondary in the 1960s, I wanted to study engineering. But later on, after I left school, I saw an advertisement for a legal course and I applied for it. It was a time when there were virtually no lawyers in the North. I was in the third batch of northern lawyers to be trained. That was how I came to be interested in and studied the law. When I attended the course in Zaria, it was in August 1961 and it went through 1962. We had to go to London for the second part of the course. I finished my studies there. I then returned to attend the Nigerian Law School, where I eventually qualified to practice in Nigeria. I qualified as a lawyer in England on January 4, 1963 and later on, I attended the Nigerian Law School. I finished in 1965, I think. I am not quite sure of the date. Every year at that time, they used to take about 12 candidates from the northern states to qualify as lawyers. In the year I was selected, I was the only one from Bauchi. There were three candidates from Sokoto. There was someone from Argungu, who later became a justice of the Supreme Court; there was Justice Kalgo from Kalgo and Usman Mohammed from Sokoto. And then there were other candidates from other northern states. There was another one from Borno, and another from Plateau. There were 12 of us in my set; I can’t remember all the names.