Ghana’s legal community is mourning the loss of one of its most respected figures, retired Supreme Court Justice Nasiru Sulemana Gbadegbe, who passed away on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the age of 74 after a brief illness.
Justice Gbadegbe’s career in the judiciary stretched across more than three decades, during which he built a reputation for fairness, legal precision, and an unshakable adherence to the principles of justice.
Beginning his service as a High Court judge in 1989, he steadily rose through the ranks, earning an appointment to the Court of Appeal in 1999. A decade later, in 2009, he joined the Supreme Court, where he remained until his retirement on December 8, 2020, upon reaching the statutory retirement age of 70.
Throughout his years on the bench, Justice Gbadegbe was widely regarded as a guardian of procedural integrity. His colleagues often described him as a “stickler for procedure,” a judge who held fast to due process and the rule of law no matter the complexity or profile of the case before him.
Perhaps the most nationally significant chapter of his judicial career came in 2013 when he sat as one of the nine justices who ruled on Ghana’s pivotal presidential election petition. The case challenged the results of the 2012 elections and became a defining moment for the judiciary, which emerged with heightened respect for its impartiality and endurance under pressure.
Justice Gbadegbe’s meticulous approach to the law and his unflinching commitment to ethical conduct earned him praise not only from his peers but also from legal scholars and younger members of the bench. His jurisprudence reflected deep legal insight and a profound understanding of justice as both principle and practice.
At his retirement ceremony in 2020, then Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah paid glowing tribute to his service, saying, “Justice Gbadegbe served this country with commitment and left an indelible mark on Ghana’s judiciary.”
His passing leaves a significant void in Ghana’s legal landscape. In the coming days, colleagues, former students, and legal professionals across the country are expected to pay tribute to a man whose contributions will long remain part of Ghana’s judicial legacy.
