Former Benue Chief Judge Justice Adam Onum dies at 5 November
- Justice Adam Ochume Onum, a former Chief Judge of Benue State, has died after a long illness.
- The state judiciary announced the death; Governor Hyacinth Alia has sent condolences to the family and the Idoma nation.
- Onum was the first Idoma judge to head Benue's judiciary, serving from December 2017.
Benue State is mourning Justice Adam Ochume Onum, a former Chief Judge of the state, who died on Thursday, 5 November 2026 after a long illness.
The state judiciary made the announcement in a statement issued in Makurdi on Thursday by Jooli Terna David, protocol officer of the High Court of Justice, speaking for the Chief Judge.
The judiciary called the death a heavy loss to the courts, the legal profession and the country. It said Onum would be remembered for his honesty, his grasp of the law and his insistence on fair hearings.
Condolences went to his family, friends and the wider legal community. The judiciary said funeral plans and a valedictory court session in his honour will be announced later.
A historic first for Idoma
Onum entered the record books in December 2017, when he became the first lawyer of Idoma origin to lead the Benue judiciary since the state was created in 1976.
Governor Hyacinth Alia, in a condolence message released on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, said the former judge's work in building the state's courts and legal institutions would stay in Benue's story.
Alia described him as a respected lawyer and judge whose years on the bench were marked by integrity, courage and devotion to justice. He also pointed to Onum's service on state commissions and national election petition tribunals as proof of his commitment to public duty.
The governor sent his sympathies to Onum's immediate family, the Idoma nation, the Benue State Judiciary, the Nigerian Bar Association and the people of Benue, and prayed for comfort for those grieving.
For ordinary Benue residents, the death removes a senior figure whose rulings and tribunal work touched disputes that shaped who governed them. Election petition panels, in particular, decide complaints that can change the outcome of elections.
What happens next: the judiciary has promised to publish the funeral timetable and the date of the valedictory court session, a formal sitting where colleagues honour a departed judge.
