After a bout of protracted illness, former Supreme Court judge, Justice Abubakar Bashir Wali, has been declared dead.

He died in his Kano home.

His family confirmed this development after noting he would be buried this afternoon according to Islamic rites.

Justice Wali was a pioneer legal practitioner in the north.

Justice Wali was also the first judge from the Shariah Court of Appeal to rise through the rank to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.