A retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Saidu Kawu, has passed away at a private hospital in Ilorin, Kwara State.

He was aged 85.

Justice Suleiman Kawu, the eldest son of the deceased, confirmed his death to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, saying the retired justice died Wednesday evening after a brief illness.

Suleiman said that the deceased would be buried on Thursday morning in IIorin according to Islamic rites.

Kawu was the pioneer Chief Judge of Kwara State and was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court on August 12, 1984. He retired in 1993.

The Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, described Kawu’s death as painful and a great loss to the state and the country.

According to him, Kawu’s death marked the close of a chapter in the annals of the country’s judiciary.

He said Kawu, through his judicial pronouncements, helped in shaping and developing judicial processes in the country.

Meanwhile, sympathisers, including members of the bench and the bar, have started paying condolence visit to the family compound of the late jurist.