The immediate past Chief Judge of Bayelsa, retired Justice Kate Abiri, has died at 65. The Chief Registrar at the State Judiciary Headquarters, Mr Amaebi Orukari, announced his death in a statement issued on Thursday in Yenagoa.
He said, “With a deep sense of loss, the Honourable Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Hon. Justice Matilda Abrakasa Ayemieye, on behalf of the management and Staff of the Bayelsa State Judiciary announces the demise of Hon. Justice Kate Abiri, CON, whose sad event occurred on the 3rd of August, 2023.
“The Hon. Justice Kate Abiri passed on after a brief illness at the Glory Land Hospital, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Until her death, she was the immediate past Chief Judge of Bayelsa State. The Bayelsa State Judiciary will miss her pioneering effort in information technology, infrastructural development, and contribution to the legal community and the Bayelsa State in general.”
According to the statement, the burial arrangements will be announced in due course after consultation with the family.
It would be recalled that Abiri retired from the Bayelsa State Judiciary on January 13 after serving as Chief Judge for 15 years and clocking the mandatory retirement age of 65.
During her service as the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Abiri swore in four governors into office in Bayelsa and Rivers State respectively.
They include Governors Timipre Sylva, Henry Seriake Dickson, and incumbent governor Douye Diri, moreso, she was deployed by the Chief Judge of Nigeria to Rivers State in 2015 to swear in then Governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike when judiciary in the state was having a constitutional issues.
