Barring any last-minute change, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun of the Supreme Court will be named the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on Friday.

The CJN Justice Olukayode Ariwoola is expected to leave the post on August 22 after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70 years. Justice Kekere-Ekun will emerge as the second female chief CJN after Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar.

Justice Mukhtar, the first female CJN, held the position between July 2012 and November 2014 when she retired. By ranking, Justice Kekere-Ekun, 66, is the most senior justice of the Supreme Court after Justice Ariwoola.

It is expected as a tradition of the apex court that the next ranking Justice will assume the office of the CJN. Justice Kekere-Ekun was appointed a judge of the High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996.

She served as the chairman of the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal, Zone II, Ikeja, Lagos, from November 1996 to May 1999.

On September 22, 2004, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal where she served in various Divisions and as the presiding justice of two Divisions of the appellate court (Makurdi and Aku) in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

She was elevated to the Supreme Court of Nigeria as the fifth female justice of the apex court and sworn in on Monday, July 8, 2013.